Word.ws English Dictionary

takes matters into one's own hands

takes matters into one's own hands is the third-person singular simple present indicative of take matters into one's own hands.

Meaning of take matters into one's own hands

Verb

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

  1. (idiomatic, intransitive) To deal with a problem alone instead of waiting on others (often persons who are responsible and have failed to deal with the issue).
    • But while the two strapping front men battered Foster, they could not better him, and in the absence of tangible reward for his creative efforts, Pennant almost took matters into his own hands, curling a low free-kick inches wide of Foster's left-hand upright.2011 February 12, Les Roopanarine, “Birmingham 1 - 0 Stoke”, in BBC

Questions about takes matters into one's own hands

What is takes matters into one's own hands the third-person singular simple present indicative of?
Takes matters into one's own hands is the third-person singular simple present indicative of take matters into one's own hands.

Words near takes matters into one's own hands in the dictionary

  1. takes leave of one's senses
  2. takes liberties
  3. takes lightly
  4. takes long
  5. takes lying down
  6. takes matters into one's own hands
  7. takes no for an answer
  8. takes no notice of
  9. takes no prisoners
  10. takes note
  11. takes notes

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: takes matters into one's own hands (page history and authors); take matters 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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