Word.ws English Dictionary

taken the fifth

taken the fifth is the past participle of take the fifth.

Meaning of take the fifth

Verb

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.
    Synonyms:
    plead the Fifth

Verb capitalized: taken the Fifth

taken the Fifth

  1. (participle, past) past participle of take the Fifth

Questions about taken the fifth

What is taken the fifth the past participle of?
Taken the fifth is the past participle of take the fifth.
What part of speech is taken the fifth?
Taken the fifth is a verb.

Words near taken the fifth in the dictionary

  1. taken the coward's way out
  2. taken the cure
  3. taken the easy way out
  4. taken the edge off
  5. taken the fall
  6. taken the fifth
  7. taken the front seat
  8. taken the game to
  9. taken the gap
  10. taken the gilt off the gingerbread
  11. taken the heat

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: taken the fifth (page history and authors); taken 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.

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