take turns

idiomatic phrase

variants also British take it in turns

: to do something one after another in regular succession in order to share the responsibility or opportunity of doing it : alternate

We take turns washing the dishes.

Almost immediately, Rick and Diane begin videotaping their classroom lessons, letting their students take turns with the cameras.

—Ann Bradley

Several youths were around the phone, taking it in turns to gossip and joke with the operator.

—Christopher Isherwood

Examples of take turns in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Each member of the team then takes turns adding a new sentence to the story. —Kate Vitasek, Forbes, 20 Nov. 2024

The competing models took turns revealing more pixels to the judge, which was a weaker model. —Stephen Ornes, Quanta Magazine, 8 Nov. 2024

Over the course of the night, Ingram noticed how people were lingering around the man and taking turns speaking to him. —Rachel Corbett, Vulture, 5 Nov. 2024

Each woman at Madison Square Garden took turns, almost treating the song like a lullaby, a different gig for a different sky. —Kory Grow, Rolling Stone, 5 Nov. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1613, in the meaning defined above