take (someone or something) seriously
idiom
: to treat (someone or something) as being very important and deserving attention or respect
He takes his religious faith seriously.
She's well qualified for the job, so she hopes the company will take her seriously.
His parents threatened to punish him, but he didn't take them seriously, since he had not been punished before.
Most politicians take themselves too seriously.
Examples of take (someone or something) seriously in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
And all along, Canada has to take seriously the threat of becoming America’s 51st state.
—
Alissa Quart, TIME, 13 Mar. 2025
That experience has prepared policymakers in Beijing to take seriously the possibility that the U.S. administration will impose ruinously high tariffs on all Chinese goods or seek to advance U.S. relations with Taiwan.
—Yun Sun, Foreign Affairs, 6 Feb. 2025
That’s a question the leaders of our selective universities should take seriously.
—Michael T. Nietzel, Forbes, 1 Dec. 2024
To read Frost is to wonder which parts of a poem to take seriously—and to sense his presence over your shoulder, laughing at your mistakes.
—Maggie Doherty, The New Yorker, 24 Feb. 2025
See All Example Sentences for take (someone or something) seriously
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Alissa Quart, TIME, 13 Mar. 2025
That experience has prepared policymakers in Beijing to take seriously the possibility that the U.S. administration will impose ruinously high tariffs on all Chinese goods or seek to advance U.S. relations with Taiwan.
—Yun Sun, Foreign Affairs, 6 Feb. 2025
That’s a question the leaders of our selective universities should take seriously.
—Michael T. Nietzel, Forbes, 1 Dec. 2024
To read Frost is to wonder which parts of a poem to take seriously—and to sense his presence over your shoulder, laughing at your mistakes.
—Maggie Doherty, The New Yorker, 24 Feb. 2025
See All Example Sentences for take (someone or something) seriously
Cite this Entry
“Take (someone or something) seriously.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/take%20%28someone%20or%20something%29%20seriously. Accessed 25 Mar. 2025.
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