Word.ws English Dictionary

take the fifth

take the fifth verb: to decline to comment, especially on grounds that it might be incriminating.

Verb (1)

take the fifth (third-person singular simple present takes the fifth, present participle taking the fifth, simple past took the fifth, past participle taken the fifth)

  1. (idiomatic) To decline to comment, especially on grounds that it might be incriminating.
    • If you ask me who ate the last of the ice cream, I will simply take the fifth.
    • “Do you believe the violence on January 6 was justified morally?” she asked. Flynn squinted, truculent. “Take the Fifth,” he said.2022 July 8, Barton Gellman, quoting Michael Flynn, “What Happened to Michael Flynn?”, in The Atlantic
    Synonyms:
    plead the Fifth

Verb (2) capitalized: take the Fifth

take the Fifth (third-person singular simple present takes the Fifth, present participle taking the Fifth, simple past took the Fifth, past participle taken the Fifth)

  1. Alternative letter-case form of take the fifth.

Synonyms of take the fifth

Forms of take the fifth

third-person singular presenttakes the fifth
present participletaking the fifth
pasttook the fifth
past participletaken the fifth
alternative formtake the Fifth
third-person singular presenttakes the Fifth
present participletaking the Fifth
pasttook the Fifth
past participletaken the Fifth

Origin of take the fifth

A reference to the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which, among other provisions (e.g., prohibition of double jeopardy), protects individuals from being compelled to testify against themselves (i.e., self-incrimination).

Questions about take the fifth

What does take the fifth mean?
Take the fifth means to decline to comment, especially on grounds that it might be incriminating.
What part of speech is take the fifth?
Take the fifth is a verb.
What is the past tense of take the fifth?
The past tense of take the fifth is took the fifth.

Words near take the fifth in the dictionary

  1. take the cure
  2. take the easy way out
  3. take the edge off
  4. take the fall
  5. take the field
  6. take the fifth
  7. take the flak
  8. take the floor
  9. take the front seat
  10. take the game to
  11. take the gap

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: take the fifth (page history and authors); take the Fifth (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-take the fifth.ogg.

Cite this entry: “take the fifth.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/take_the_fifth. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.