take care of

idiomatic phrase

1
: to attend to or provide for the needs, operation, or treatment of (someone or something)
He is home taking care of a sick child.
Each operator can take care of three machines.
The schoolteacher began to feel like a fifth wheel. Her home was taken care of, and her children were taking care of themselves.Dorothy West
2
: to deal with or do (something that requires effort or attention)
My assistant takes care of all our travel arrangements.
He offered to take care of [=pay] the bill.

Examples of take care of in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web So Urbani’s job was to procure those from a hatchery or catch them and then take care of them so they could be released. Sage Marshall, Field & Stream, 8 June 2023 Once that’s done, KFON’s business support centre will contact and take care of the next course of action. Niharika Sharma, Quartz, 6 June 2023 One of the sections will be about how to take care of Social Security matters. Tom Margenau, Dallas News, 4 June 2023 As a result, Michaela finds a way to get out of the detention facility to take care of her father, with the help of Jared (J.R. Ramirez). Kelsie Gibson, Peoplemag, 2 June 2023 See all Example Sentences for take care of 

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'take care of.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

1582, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of take care of was in 1582

Dictionary Entries Near take care of

Cite this Entry

“Take care of.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/take%20care%20of. Accessed 5 Nov. 2024.

Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!