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

But this year, the industry has been coming to terms with the high costs of making games, especially PlayStation and Xbox studios who produce high-fidelity, realistic-looking titles that cost hundreds of millions of dollars and take five years to a decade to produce. —Gene Park, Washington Post, 18 June 2024

The home took five years to complete, and the effort shows in its extravagant exterior, which reflects the city lights with a sense of purpose. —Tj MacIas, Sacramento Bee, 18 June 2024

The journey by car or taxi is three hours, while the bus takes five hours. —Evie Carrick, Travel + Leisure, 14 June 2024

So, take five minutes upfront to map out the structure: Introduction: set the stage and frame the topic Main points: jot down 5-7 key points to cover Conclusion: recap and call readers to action Overall, having an outline in place makes writing 1000% easier. —Jon Stojan, The Arizona Republic, 12 June 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1916, in the meaning defined above