Word.ws English Dictionary

you can't take it with you

you can't take it with you proverb: it is not possible to take one's material wealth or possessions to whatever world may await one after death.

Proverb

you can't take it with you

  1. It is not possible to take one's material wealth or possessions to whatever world may await one after death.
    • "The clause which—at my death—makes you sole owner of the whole concession. You see—the odds were scarcely even, were they? It wasn't likely anything would happen to you!" . . .
      "What's it matter to you now?" Trent said, with unintentional brutality. "You can't take it with you."1900, E. Phillips Oppenheim, chapter 6, in A Millionaire of Yesterday
    • Dealers also quietly bought gold fillings from morticians, proving that you can't take it with you.1980 January 14, “Business: The Great Sell-Off”, in Time

Questions about you can't take it with you

What does you can't take it with you mean?
You can't take it with you means it is not possible to take one's material wealth or possessions to whatever world may await one after death.
What part of speech is you can't take it with you?
You can't take it with you is a proverb.

Words near you can't take it with you in the dictionary

  1. you can't put the toothpaste back in the tube
  2. you can't put the toothpaste back into the tube
  3. you can't run with the hare and hunt with the hounds
  4. you can't say fairer than that
  5. you can't step in the same river twice
  6. you can't take it with you
  7. you can't talk
  8. you can't teach an old dog new tricks
  9. you can't tell a book by its cover
  10. you can't turn a hoe into a housewife
  11. you can't unring a bell

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: you can't take it with you (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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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-you can't take it with you.wav.

Cite this entry: “you can't take it with you.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/you_can%27t_take_it_with_you. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.