Word.ws English Dictionary

takes the bull by the horns

takes the bull by the horns is the third-person singular simple present indicative of take the bull by the horns.

Meaning of take the bull by the horns

Verb

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

  1. To deal with a matter in a direct manner, especially to confront a difficulty rather than avoid it.
    • Wordsworth has a system which disposes him to take the bull by the horns and offend public taste.1828 May, Sir Walter Scott, The Journal of Sir Walter Scott

Questions about takes the bull by the horns

What is takes the bull by the horns the third-person singular simple present indicative of?
Takes the bull by the horns is the third-person singular simple present indicative of take the bull by the horns.

Words near takes the bull by the horns in the dictionary

  1. takes the bench
  2. takes the biscuit
  3. takes the bitter with the sweet
  4. takes the bread out of someone's mouth
  5. takes the Browns to the Super Bowl
  6. takes the bull by the horns
  7. takes the cake
  8. takes the chair
  9. takes the chill off
  10. takes the Chiltern Hundreds
  11. takes the count

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: takes the bull by the horns (page history and authors); take the bull by the horns (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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