take someone at their word
English
AI In plain words
Writing a short explanation…
Written by a house AI from the entry below, in your language. The entry itself is the source.
take someone at their word
verb takes someone at their word · taking someone at their word · took someone at their word · taken someone at their word
- To take someone literally even though they may not have been serious; to take someone seriously even though they were joking; to take up a challenge that was initially meant as a joke.
- To take someone's word for it, to believe someone without having the means to check that what they said is true. There’s no way to objectively know if a particular alterhuman individual is actually an otherkin, otherkith, or otherlink. As with matters of gender identity, they have to be taken at their word—sometimes quite literally: it might be a word you've never heard before.
Translations
Every language
verb take someone literally even though they may not have been serious
| Français | prendre au mot, prendre au pied de la lettre, prendre au sérieux |
|---|
verb believe someone without having the means to check that what they said is true
| Français | croire sur parole |
|---|---|
| Русский | ве́рить на́ слово véritʹ ná slovo, пове́рить на́ слово povéritʹ ná slovo |
Talk about this word "take someone at their word." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/take%20someone%20at%20their%20word. Accessed 7 Nov. 2026. take someone at their word. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 7, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/take%20someone%20at%20their%20word "take someone at their word." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 7, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/take%20someone%20at%20their%20word.Cite this
@misc{take_someone_at_their_word_2026,
title = {take someone at their word},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/take%20someone%20at%20their%20word},
urldate = {2026-11-07}
}
