take five

idiomatic phrase

variants or take ten

US, informal

: to take a brief break (as from work)

They're locked in a fierce debate over the last scene of their film … when camp director and Hollywood veteran Sam Dalton finally orders them to take five.

—Megan Myers

Parry Aftab, the executive director of WiredSafety.org, offers these tips for dealing with troubling messages. … Take five. Instead of replying to a message that upsets you, step away and do something you enjoy for five minutes.

—Nicole Iorio

I could see his anger had nearly boiled over. … Coach Colby, who ran the defense, was the brave soul who stepped in. "Take ten," he said, placing a hand on Orlando's chest. "Cool off. Then suit up and meet at the fifty-yard line. Got it?"

—Brandon Terrell

Examples of take five in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Here, a game can take five to 15 minutes rather than the 90-minute commitment of the shortest bout of Mario Party proper. —Christopher Cruz, Rolling Stone, 17 Oct. 2024

Its sequel released on PS2 in 2001, back when sequels didn’t take five to ten years. —Erik Kain, Forbes, 24 Sep. 2024

The second example is for an enrollee who takes five drugs, including one Tier 4. —Diane Omdahl, Forbes, 8 Oct. 2024

After a pair of Anderson free throws, the Warriors took five straight 3-pointers. —Danny Emerman, The Mercury News, 5 Oct. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1916, in the meaning defined above