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Take off meaning

Take off means to remove clothes, shoes or glasses from your body. It can also mean to leave the ground and start flying.

Check yourself: 3 questionsAll 10 phrasal verbs with take

take something off

take off · took · taken · taking

A2Separable+3 more meanings

Please take off your shoes at the door.

Take off meanings and examples

4 meanings, each with its own CEFR level from Oxford Learner’s Dictionaries and the Cambridge Dictionary.

  1. 1remove clothes, shoes or glasses from your body
  2. 2leave the ground and start flying
  3. 3suddenly become successful or popular
  4. 4have time away from work
  1. 1

    Remove clothes, shoes or glasses from your body

    take something off

    A2Separable

    • Please take off your shoes at the door.
    • He took his jacket off and sat down.
    • This coat is soaking. I’ll take it off.
  2. 2

    Leave the ground and start flying

    take off

    A2No object

    • Our plane took off an hour late.
    • Turn off your phone before we take off.
    • All the birds took off when the dog barked.
  3. 3

    Suddenly become successful or popular

    take off

    B2No object

    • Her online shop really took off last year.
    • The idea never took off in Europe.
    • Do you think electric scooters will take off here?
  4. 4

    Have time away from work

    take somebody or something off

    B2Separable

    • I’m taking Friday off to move house.
    • Can you take a few days off next month?
    • He hasn’t taken any time off this year.
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Is take off separable?

When take off means remove clothes, it is separable: take off your coat, take your coat off. With a pronoun, it goes in the middle: take it off. When a plane takes off, there is no object.

The noun is takeoff in US English and take-off in UK English: Please stay in your seat during takeoff.

Verb tenses for take off

PresentI take off · she takes off
Pasttook off
Present perfecthave taken off
-ing formtaking off

Common mistakes with take off

What learners often say, and what to say instead.

  • Wrong: Your jumper is wet. Take off it.

    Right: Your jumper is wet. Take it off.

    A pronoun goes between take and off.

  • Wrong: Take out your coat and sit down.

    Right: Take off your coat and sit down.

    For clothes on your body, use take off. Take out is for things inside a bag or box.

  • Wrong: Put off your shoes, please.

    Right: Take off your shoes, please.

    The opposite of put on is take off. Put off means delay.

Synonyms and opposites of take off

Words close to it, and words that mean the opposite.

Similar

Opposite

Take off quiz

Three quick questions. Pick an answer to see if it is right and why.

  1. 1Please ___ your shoes before you come in.

  2. 2Choose the right sentence.

  3. 3Her small cake business suddenly took off. What happened?

More phrasal verbs with take

All phrasal verbs with take, by level, with an exercise

10 phrasal verbs start with take. Test yourself on all of them in a few minutes.

Test yourself on takeTake the full test

Take off FAQ

Questions people ask about take off.

What does take off mean in a sale?

It means remove an amount from the price: They took 20% off all the shoes.

What does take off mean in informal speech?

It can mean leave quickly: It’s late, so I’m going to take off. This is common in US English.

What is the past tense of take off?

Took off, and the past participle is taken off: The plane has already taken off.

Use take off in real conversations

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