Word.ws English Dictionary

taken the law into one's own hands

taken the law into one's own hands is the past participle of take the law into one's own hands.

Meaning of take the law into one's own hands

Verb

take the law into one's own hands (third-person singular simple present takes the law into one's own hands, present participle taking the law into one's own hands, simple past took the law into one's own hands, past participle taken the law into one's own hands)

  1. (idiomatic, intransitive) To punish someone according to one's own idea of justice, without consideration for the role of law enforcement authorities.
    • After his son's killer was let off without a conviction, the man decided to take the law into his own hands.

Questions about taken the law into one's own hands

What is taken the law into one's own hands the past participle of?
Taken the law into one's own hands is the past participle of take the law into one's own hands.

Words near taken the law into one's own hands in the dictionary

  1. taken the helm
  2. taken the initiative
  3. taken the knee
  4. taken the l
  5. taken the law into one's hands
  6. taken the law into one's own hands
  7. taken the lead
  8. taken the liberty
  9. taken the long view
  10. taken the mask off
  11. taken the meaning

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: taken the law into one's own hands (page history and authors); take the law into one's own hands (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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