Word.ws English Dictionary

took the law into one's own hands

took the law into one's own hands is the simple past 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 took the law into one's own hands

What is took the law into one's own hands the simple past of?
Took the law into one's own hands is the simple past of take the law into one's own hands.

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

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

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: took 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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