take it out on
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
to direct one's anger or frustration at someone or something
Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt
hướng sự giận dữ hoặc thất vọng vào ai đó hoặc thứ gì
Machine-translated — suggest a fix
Literally: to remove and direct anger outward
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
He took it out on his employees after a bad meeting with his boss
AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)
Sources & notes
Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-31; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “take it out on” mean?
to direct one's anger or frustration at someone or something Literally: to remove and direct anger outward
Is “take it out on” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.