take the l
take the l is the alternative form of take the L.
Verb capitalized: take the L
take the L (third-person singular simple present takes the L, present participle taking the L, simple past took the L, past participle taken the L)
- To take the loss: to lose a game or competition and to accept that fact; to make a mistake or to otherwise be beset with unfortunate circumstances and recognize the outcome.
- Dom (David Jonsson): Please tell me you dumped his arse right there and then. […]
Yas (Vivian Oparah): Nope. I took a big L and got this prick some fucking hummus.2023, Nathan Bryon, Tom Melia, directed by Raine Allen-Miller, Rye Lane - Chase [Stokes], Rudy [Pankow], and JD [Jonathan Daviss], we know the Pogues have taken a lot of L’s up to this point. What advice would you give to your characters heading into season 4?2024 August 1, Kat Moon, “We Took the Guys of ‘Outer Banks’ to Therapy”, in Cosmopolitan
- Dom (David Jonsson): Please tell me you dumped his arse right there and then. […]
- Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see take, L.
- We took the L (elevated train) to get downtown last night.
Forms of take the l
| third-person singular present | takes the l |
|---|---|
| present participle | taking the l |
| past | took the l |
| past participle | taken the l |
| third-person singular present | takes the L |
| present participle | taking the L |
| past | took the L |
| past participle | taken the L |
| alternative form | take the l |
| alternative form | take an L |
| alternative form | take an l |
| alternative form | take Ls |
| alternative form | take L's |
Origin of take the l
From take + the + L, in various senses (L as loss or L as elevated).
Questions about take the l
- What does take the l mean?
- Take the l means to take the loss: to lose a game or competition and to accept that fact; to make a mistake or to otherwise be beset with unfortunate circumstances and recognize the outcome.
- What is take the l the alternative form of?
- Take the l is the alternative form of take the L.
- What part of speech is take the l?
- Take the l is a verb.
- What is the past tense of take the l?
- The past tense of take the l is took the l.
Words near take the l in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: take the l (page history and authors); take the L (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: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-take the L.wav.
Cite this entry: “take the l.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/take_the_l. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.