take seriously

English

Alternative forms

• take serious (informal)

Verb

take seriously (third-person singular simple present takes seriously, present participle taking seriously, simple past took seriously, past participle taken seriously)

1. (transitive) To consider important and meaningful (information or a matter that somebody is mentioning or discussing).

   Synonym: take to heart

   Antonyms: take lightly, make light of

   • 2026 March 9, Cyrus Veyssi, “In Defense of Influencers”, in TIME‎^[1], archived from the original on 14 March 2026:

     But there is a wide gap between the dollars being invested in creators and the respect that is paid to them. It is time to take influencers seriously.

Translations

to consider important

• Arabic: أَخَذَهُ عَلَى مَحْمَلِ الجِدِّ (ʔaḵaḏahu ʕalā maḥmali l-jiddi), أَخَذَهُ بِالجِدِّيَّة (ʔaḵaḏahu bi-l-jiddiyya)
• Azerbaijani: ciddiyə almaq
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 當回事 / 当回事 (zh) (dànghuíshì)

• Danish: tage på alvor
• Dutch: serieus nemen, au sérieux nemen (nl), ernstig nemen
• Finnish: ottaa vakavasti
• French: prendre au sérieux (fr)
• German: ernst nehmen
• Hungarian: komolyan vesz
• Italian: prendere sul serio
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: ta på alvor

  Nynorsk: ta på alvor

• Polish: brać na poważnie impf, brać poważnie impf, wziąć na poważnie pf, wziąć poważnie pf
• Romanian: lua în serios
• Russian: принима́ть всерьёз (prinimátʹ vserʹjóz)
• Spanish: tomar en serio
• Swedish: ta på allvar
• Turkish: ciddiye almak (tr)
• Vietnamese: để tâm

References

• “take seriously”, in Merriam-Webster.com Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
• “take seriously”, in Collins English Dictionary, 2011–present.
• “take someone something seriously” (US) / “take someone something seriously” (UK) in Macmillan English Dictionary.
• “take seriously” in Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, Longman.