The Phrasal Verb 'Take Away' Explained
An explanation of the different meanings of the English phrasal verb 'take away' from a native speaker, with lots of examples in context
Hello and welcome to my website for English learners all about phrasal verbs where I explain their different meanings to help you understand, learn and use them like a native.
This post is all about the common phrasal verb 'take away' and in it I will explain five different ways that you can use it in English. For example, did you know that we can use it to talk about subjects as diverse as mathematics and buying food and eating it elsewhere?! In the post, I will explain each of the different ways that we use it in everyday modern English and also provide you with lots of examples for each one to ensure that by the end of the post you have a good understanding of when and how to use it. So, let's make a start and see what the phrasal verb 'take away' is all about. Grab a drink and get comfortable as it is a long post....
QUICK ANSWER: What does the phrasal verb 'take away' mean?The phrasal verb 'take away' has five main meanings in English:
Keep reading to learn more about how to use each one in a natural way.... |
TABLE OF CONTENTS (Click to jump to each one)
THE BASICS
TAKE AWAY: KEY INFORMATION
Usage | Common |
Number of meanings | 5 |
Past tense forms | Took away / Taken away |
Separable? | Yes |
As you can see in the table above, when we combine the two words 'take' and 'away' to form the phrasal verb 'take away', we get a a surprising number of meanings, but what do these two little words mean on their own and what does each one bring to the phrasal verbs that it appears in?
Take - The verb 'to take' is one the most commonly used and versatile verbs in the English language. It has lots of different meanings which include 'to transport something with you', 'to remove something', 'to steal' and 'to acquire something'. It has many more meanings that that but those are some of the most common and are the most relevant for the phrasal verb 'take away'. As with many common verbs in English, 'to take' is irregular.
I am taking my cat to work with me tomorrow.
Who has taken my keys? They were on the table a minute ago?
Sorry, I think I took your keys by mistake.
Away - The prepositional particle 'away' is one that we do not see all too often in phrasal verb constructions. Its core meaning is 'a separation or movement from a particular place, person or thing' and this idea is often applied literally in phrasal verbs (walk away, fly away). In more idiomatic phrasal verbs meanings it can add different meanings like removal or discarding (throw away), continuous activity (chat away) and gradual disappearance (wear away).
So, now that we have covered the basics, let's move on to learn what meanings the phrasal verb 'take away' has....
MEANING 1: To remove
CEFR Language Level | B1 - Intermediate |
Usage | Common |
Where is it used? | Everywhere |
Potential synonyms | To remove, to get rid of, to confiscate, to revoke |
Separable? | Yes |
We will begin the post with the literal meaning of the combination of these two words, which is 'to remove something'.
Nouns commonly used with this application....
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Let's first just think about this in the simplest terms. I think that you can probably work this one out yourselves but when we combine the idea of 'taking' something and combine it with the idea of 'away', we arrive at the meaning of removing something from the place that it was, so that it is no longer there.
I have a good example of this from yesterday. My cats, Arthur and Henry, were in the garden acting in a strange way and when I went outside to find out why, I noticed that they were chasing a small bird that had fallen out of a tree. In order to save the bird, I needed to take both of the cats away (remove them) from where thery were in the garden, so that the bird could escape back to its home in the trees. Luckily, no cats, birds or humans were hurt and everyone lived happily ever after.
The core idea of 'take away' is clear in the example above: I took the cats away from the specified place so that they were no longer there.
Other examples of this could include when someone leaves some old unwanted furniture outside their house so that someone takes it away and when a server in a restaurant comes and takes your empty plates away from the table when you have finished your meal.
Example sentences....
Please take those empty boxes away.
Alan took the dirty plates away after dinner.
Can you take this chair away? We don’t need it anymore.
The workers took away all the rubbish this morning.
Jennifer took the old furniture away when she moved out.
Someone has taken away the ladder that was outside.
All of the examples that we have looked at until now have included taking something from a place, but now let's add the human element to it. If we want to talk about when a person no longer has something because it has been taken from them, we can just 'take away' with the preposition 'from' with the following structure: take something away from someone.
This is typically used when someone has something in their possession and another person takes it from them, meaning that they no longer have it. As this tends to be when the person did not choose to no longer have the item, it is often said with an element of anger, frustration or bitterness.
It is common to hear this used with children and teenagers, for example you make take a child's toy away if they have been naughty, or a teacher may take a student's phone away if they are playing with it in class.
Example sentences....
The teacher took the phone away from Tom during the lesson.
Leo's parents took his games console away from him for a week as a punishment.
The police took the knife away from the man.
Rosalind took the matches away from the child before he could light them.
The nurse took the empty medicine bottle away from the patient.
I had to take the remote control away from my son because he kept changing the channel.
In addition to solid, tangible objects, we also use this application of the phrasal verb 'take away' with abstract or non-physical things. When used this way, 'take away' carries the idea of doing something to eliminate something or get rid of it. This includes things like freedom, atmosphere and doubts, as well as things that people can feel like pain, tiredness and emotions.
Example sentences....
The medicine took the pain away almost immediately.
Nothing could take away Emma's fear of flying.
A good night’s sleep should take away some of the tiredness.
The apology didn’t take away the embarrassment of what had happened.
The new evidence took away any doubt about who was responsible.
My colleague's explanation took away some of my concerns about the project.
By adding too much water, it has taken away a lot of the flavour from the dish.
They took away my freedom when they put me in prison but they didn't take away my desire for revenge.
Lastly, we can also talk about taking people away and we can do this for both very positive and very negative reasons. Sometimes, if a person dies, particularly if it is suddenly or at a young age, you may hear their surviving partner or family using take away' as a euphemism to express that the person has died. Again, this goes back to the idea that something is taken from you against your will and you no longer have it in your life.
Example sentences....
My wife was taken away from us far too soon.
We were devastated when our son was taken away from us at such a young age.
She was taken away from her family after a short illness.
On a more positive note, Did you now that a common meaning of 'away' when it is used as an adverb is 'on holiday / vacation' since it implies that you are not at home. Therefore, in British English if you 'take someone away', it can mean that you take them on holiday (vacation) with you. The implicit meaning here is that the person taking the other away organises the holiday and invites the other person.
Example sentences....
I’m taking my wife away for the weekend.
He took his girlfriend away for her birthday.
We’re taking the kids away during the school holidays.
Davina wants to take her parents away for a few days.
Are you taking her away for your anniversary?
They took the whole family away for Christmas.
Let's move on to the next application now and I promise they are all much shorter from now on 😀
MEANING 2: To buy food and eat it elsewhere
CEFR Language Level | B1 - Intermediate |
Usage | Medium |
Where is it used? | British English, Australian English, Ireland, NZ, South Africa |
Potential synonyms | To take out, to carry out |
Separable? | Yes |
The second of our meanings of the phrasal verb 'take away' is one that is common in British English and means 'to buy food and eat it elsewhere'.
If you have ever been to the UK, you will no doubt have noticed that in most towns and cities there are a lot of Indian and Chinese restaurants that offer a service where you can order the food in the restaurant and take it with you to eat somewhere else once it is ready (typically your home). When we do this, we say that we are taking the food away, as we are literally removing it from the restaurant before we eat it.
In addition, this is very common in certain fast food restaurants (I'm sure you know which ones I am talking about) and when you are ordering food in one of these, you will always be asked if you are eating in (staying in the restaurant to eat) or taking away.
This application is a separable one, however, it is fairly common to use the following structure: food / drink + to take away.
One important point to note here is that although I have stated British English above, 'take away' is not commonly used in Scotland as they tend to use 'carry out' (link here) instead. In North American English, the standard term for this style of dining is 'take out' (link here) or sometimes also 'food to go'.
Example sentences....
We ordered some pizzas to take away.
Can I get this coffee to take away, please?
I didn’t have time to eat there, so I took the food away with me.
You can eat here or take your food away.
We decided to take the burgers away and eat them in the park.
I’ll have a chicken curry to take away, please.
They bought some sandwiches to take away and ate them on the train.
Is that to eat in or take away?
I’d like two portions of fish and chips to take away, please.
BONUS: The noun 'takeaway' part 1When talking about this action of buying food in a restaurant and taking it away to eat, we often use the noun 'takeaway' to describe the meal itself. For example, if you and your partner are both too tired to cook one evening, one of you may suggest "getting a takeaway" instead. You should note that this is also used when the food is ordered online or over the phone and it is delivered to the person's house.
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MEANING 3: To subtract
CEFR Language Level | B2 - Upper intermediate |
Usage | Medium |
Where is it used? | Everywhere |
Potential synonyms | To subtract, to minus, to take off, to deduct |
Separable? | Yes |
The third of the five meanings of the phrasal verb 'take away' is one that will be useful for all of you mathematicians out there and means 'to subtract'.
To subtract: to remove one number or amount from another to see what is left afterwards. |
You may recall that I have stated in other blog posts that I am not naturally good at maths*. I used to enjoy it at school but it didn't come naturally to me like reading and languages. Now, whenever I hear the phrasal verb 'take away' being used to talk about maths, it takes me straight back to my classroom struggles at school as this was how we used to refer to subtraction.
If you are doing a calculation and you need to remove one number from a larger number in order to find out what the difference is, we can use the phrasal verb 'take away' to express this. To give you an example, you would say "five take away three equals 2" (5 - 3 = 2).
Again, this application links back to the core idea of removal that we have already looked at in the post. It is very common when talking about school maths at basic levels, however if you were talking to a serious mathematician or scientist, they would be more likely to use a more formal verb like 'to subtract' or 'to deduct'.
Example sentences....
If you take away five from twelve, you get seven.
Ten take away three is seven.
What do you get if you take away six from twenty?
Take away four from nine and you’re left with five.
If we take away 20 from 100, we get 80.
Fifty take away fifteen equals thirty-five.
*math in American English
MEANING 4: To devalue or detract
CEFR Language Level | C1 - Advanced |
Usage | Medium |
Where is it used? | Everywhere |
Potential synonyms | To detract, to devalue |
Separable? | Yes |
We are going to stay with the same core idea of 'removal' for our fourth meaning of the phrasal verb 'take away' as this one means 'to detract from' or 'to devalue'.
Nouns commonly used with this application....
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To detract = to make something seem less valuable or important |
To devalue = to reduce the perceived value of something |
This application is a bit similar to the previous one with calculations, but rather than removing one number from another, we are instead talking about reducing the value, effectiveness, quality or enjoyment of something, so that it is not perceived by people to be as good or as valuable as it was before.
Generally, we use this application with abstract nouns such as success, performance or experience. If something happens that can result in a person not enjoying something as much or it reduces how effective of important something is, we can say that "it takes away from it'.
For example, if you watch a movie and it is a brilliant movie but one actor's performance is very bad, you could say that "the actor's performance took away from the movie", meaning that it reduced how much you enjoyed it. Likewise, if you enjoy the ambiance of a house but don't like the cheap furniture, you could say that "the cheap furniture takes away from the ambiance of the house".
The best way to explain this one is if you think of a meal at a restaurant that you enjoyed very much, however you had to wait a long time for the food to come. As a result, you gave the experience 8/10, however if the food had come more quickly, you would have given the experience 10/10 but the long wait took away from this.
Example sentences....
The poor ending took away from an otherwise excellent film.
The noisy crowd took away from our enjoyment of the concert.
The constant interruptions took away from the effectiveness of the presentation.
A spell of bad weather took away from what would otherwise have been a perfect weekend.
This controversy has taken away from the success of the event.
Excessive special effects actually take away from the story.
For the optimists among you, you should also note we often use this in the negative sense, to express that something bad or negative does not devalue or detract from the overall achievement, result or experience of something.
Example sentences....
His lack of experience doesn’t take away from his ability to do the job well.
The disappointing result doesn’t take away from what the team achieved this season.
A couple of negative reviews shouldn’t take anything away from your achievement.
MEANING 5: To learn something
CEFR Language Level | C1 - Advanced |
Usage | Medium |
Where is it used? | Everywhere |
Potential synonyms | To learn |
Separable? | Yes |
We are now at the fifth and final meaning of the phrasal verb 'take away', which means 'to learn something'.
Nouns commonly used with this application....
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I have purposely left this particular usage of 'take away' until last as the idea of it is not just learning something, but rather leaving someone with a lasting memory of something at the end of it (which I hope you will have after this article).
For instance, if you go on a course to learn something new, the information that you retain and remember once the course has finished is what you take away from it.
It may not always be something that is taught to you in an educational or pedagogical way; it could just as easily be a lesson that you learned through a life experience. The key idea is that the information or message that you remember after the experience or lesson is over is what you take away from it.
Example sentences....
The main thing I took away from the course was the importance of good communication.
What did you take away from the meeting?
I took away a lot of useful information from the workshop.
There are several important lessons we can take away from this experience.
One thing I’ve taken away from working abroad is the importance of being flexible.
I hope everyone takes something useful away from this phrasal verb post.
BONUS: The noun 'takeaway' part 2A second way that we can use the noun 'takeaway' is in reference to this particular application of the phrasal verb as it is used to mean the information or message that is learned by a person at the end of something. A common collocation that you may come across with this is 'key takeaway', which refers to what the teacher or course instructor is most keen for the students to learn.
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BONUS: The idiom 'take it away'
I must apologise as I was lying to you a minute ago when I said that the previous application was the last one as there is a common idiom that we use with 'take away' that deserves its own little explanation here: 'take it away'.
The expression 'take it away' is used as a form of command to tell someone that they can start a performance or start speaking in a presentation.
The history of this expression goes back to the early 20th century and came from the idea that a performance would take the audience away on a kind of musical trip. It soon crossed over onto radio and has evolved over the years now to include presentations and speeches.
Example sentences....
And now, please welcome our band. Take it away, guys!
“Are you ready to play?” “Absolutely.” “Great — take it away!”
Now we’ll hear from our correspondent in Paris. Take it away, James.
We have now reached the end of this post and I hope that you have found it useful and that it has helped you to understand how to use the phrasal verb 'take away' more confidently and naturally.
Feel free to leave any comments, feedback or your own sentences using 'take away' in the section below. Also, if you found the post useful, please like and share it on social media.
Do you want to improve your phrasal verb skills?Now that you have read the article, I hope you've learned something new. However, reading is only the first step to mastering phrasal verbs: the key is practice and repetition. That's why I've created a series of PDF workbooks with clear explanations, natural example sentences, exercises, speaking questions and answer keys. This will help you understand and remember common English phrasal verbs and use them confidently in real-life situations. Browse the workbooks here and start improving your phrasal verbs skills today.... |
Thanks so much for reading and see you next time! James 😊
THE END
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