Word.ws English Dictionary

takes the piss

takes the piss is the third-person singular simple present indicative of take the piss.

Meaning of take the piss

Verb

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

  1. (Commonwealth, Ireland, UK, idiomatic, intransitive, slang) To tease, ridicule or mock (someone).
    • You know, cos he was like taking the piss out of them and they took the piss out of him.1987, Judy Vermorel, Sex Pistols: the inside story, page 16
  2. (Commonwealth, Ireland, UK, idiomatic, intransitive, slang) To subject those present to teasing, ridicule or mockery, or to show contempt.
    • He's either taking it easy or taking the piss by arriving at the eleventh hour.2008, Will Swanton, Some Day: Inside the Dream Tour and Mick Fanning's 2007 Championship Win
  3. (Commonwealth, Ireland, UK, idiomatic, intransitive, slang) To be outrageously unreasonable.
    • I've got three exams on the same day! That's taking the piss!

Questions about takes the piss

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

Words near takes the piss in the dictionary

  1. takes the mick
  2. takes the mickey
  3. takes the micky
  4. takes the offensive
  5. takes the pee
  6. takes the piss
  7. takes the place of
  8. takes the plunge
  9. takes the point
  10. takes the purple
  11. takes the rap

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: takes the piss (page history and authors); take the piss (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: “takes the piss.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/takes_the_piss. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.