Dictionary

take for granted en · VERB

Pronunciation

• (Australia) audio

Meanings

1. (of a thing, transitive) To assume something to be true without verification or proof.
   • Most people take the imprint "Not Transferable" for granted when buying railway tickets, and are sufficiently law-abiding not to think of transferring a return half to a relation or friend. 1959 September 14, N. Caplan, “Not Transferable”, in Railway Magazine, page 646:
   • Let it be considered a delicate intimation on the part of the historian that he is going back to the town in which Oliver Twist was born; the reader taking it for granted that there are good and substantial reasons for making the journey. 1839, Charles Dickens, chapter 17, in Oliver Twist:
2. (especially, idiomatic, of a person, transitive) To give little attention to or to underestimate the value of; to fail to appreciate, especially something one has grown heavily accustomed to; not to value or care for appropriately, out of the assumption that the person or thing not valued cannot be lost.
   • He barely needs a moment to think: "For me, there are three things. "First of all, never, never, never take our passengers and freight users for granted. Because I think after this, lots more people will be thinking about their choices very differently, and there's always a danger in the railway that unintentionally we take people for granted - and particularly in Network Rail with regards to passengers. So don't ever take a passenger for granted. 2020 May 20, Andrew Haines tells Stefanie Foster, “Repurpose rail for the 2020s”, in Rail, page 35:
   • These great First Truths, these good and gracious Tidings, these holy and humanizing Spells, in the preconformity to which our very humanity may be said to consist, are so infused, that it were but a tame and inadequate expression to say, we all take them for granted. 1825, S[amuel] T[aylor] Coleridge, Aids to Reflection in the Formation of a Manly Character on the Several Grounds of Prudence, Morality, and Religion: […], London: […] Thomas Davison, […] for Taylor and Hessey, […], →OCLC:
   • He had fiercely championed loveless ladies entering frustrated middle age, the married woman whose husband took her for granted and seldom into his arms. 1946 November 25, “Posthumous Portrait”, in Time:
   • While she waits up You chase down the newest thing and take for granted what you have 2012, Taylor Swift, “Girl at Home”, in Red, performed by Taylor Swift:
   • Many things we take for granted must have sounded unusual the first time they were proposed. For instance, imagine trying to explain to someone, for the first time, that you thought giving him an enema would be a real good idea. You'd have to proceed very subtly. 1997, George Carlin, “FIRST THINGS FIRST”, in Brain Droppings, New York: Hyperion Books, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, →OL, page 68:

Forms

Relateds

take for granite · you never miss the water till the well runs dry

Translations (61)

uk сприймати як належне (give little attention to or to underestimate the value of) · es dar por descontado (give little attention to or to underestimate the value of) · la praesūmō (assume something to be true without verification or proof) · pl wziąć za pewnik (assume something to be true without verification or proof) · cmn 想當然 /想当然 (assume something to be true without verification or proof) · it dare per scontato (assume something to be true without verification or proof) · pt fazer pouco caso de (give little attention to or to underestimate the value of) · nb ta for gitt (give little attention to or to underestimate the value of) · de für selbstverständlich halten (give little attention to or to underestimate the value of) · es dar por hecho (assume something to be true without verification or proof) · gl facer de conta (assume something to be true without verification or proof) · la praesūmō (give little attention to or to underestimate the value of) · pt dar como certo (give little attention to or to underestimate the value of) · ru принима́ть на веру (assume something to be true without verification or proof) · ja 当たり前のことと思う (assume something to be true without verification or proof) · da tage for givet (assume something to be true without verification or proof) · es dar por supuesto (assume something to be true without verification or proof) · fr tenir pour acquis (give little attention to or to underestimate the value of) · ar سلّم جدلا (assume something to be true without verification or proof) · fi pitää itsestäänselvyytenä (give little attention to or to underestimate the value of) · ca donar per descomptat (give little attention to or to underestimate the value of) · pl brać za pewnik (assume something to be true without verification or proof) · sh uzeti zdravo za gotovo (give little attention to or to underestimate the value of) · tr doğal karşılamak (assume something to be true without verification or proof) · nb ta for gitt (assume something to be true without verification or proof) · it dare per scontato (give little attention to or to underestimate the value of) · ru счита́ть само́ собо́й разуме́ющимся (give little attention to or to underestimate the value of) · es dar por sentado (assume something to be true without verification or proof) · fr prendre pour acquis (assume something to be true without verification or proof) · es dar por hecho (give little attention to or to underestimate the value of) · fr prendre pour acquis (give little attention to or to underestimate the value of) · ga déan dóigh de (assume something to be true without verification or proof) · sv ta för given (give little attention to or to underestimate the value of) · uk брати на віру (assume something to be true without verification or proof) · fi pitää itsestään selvänä (assume something to be true without verification or proof) · hu természetesnek vesz (give little attention to or to underestimate the value of) · nl als vanzelfsprekend beschouwen (give little attention to or to underestimate the value of) · uk ста́витися до чо́гось як до нале́жного (give little attention to or to underestimate the value of) · de für selbstverständlich halten (assume something to be true without verification or proof) · nl als vanzelfsprekend aannemen (assume something to be true without verification or proof) · mr गृहीत धरणे (give little attention to or to underestimate the value of) · hu magától értetődőnek érez (give little attention to or to underestimate the value of) · nl voor lief nemen (assume something to be true without verification or proof) · pt não dar valor (give little attention to or to underestimate the value of) · es tomar por sentado (give little attention to or to underestimate the value of) · es no valorar (give little attention to or to underestimate the value of) · he לָקַח כְּמוּבָן מֵאֵלָיו (assume something to be true without verification or proof) · es dar por sentado (give little attention to or to underestimate the value of) · hu készpénznek vesz (assume something to be true without verification or proof) · es subestimar (give little attention to or to underestimate the value of) · es tomar por sentado (assume something to be true without verification or proof) · ru принима́ть без доказательств (assume something to be true without verification or proof) · sv ta för givet (assume something to be true without verification or proof) · pt subestimar (give little attention to or to underestimate the value of) · cmn 不予理睬 (give little attention to or to underestimate the value of) · da tage for givet (give little attention to or to underestimate the value of) · pt não agradecer por (give little attention to or to underestimate the value of) · pt levar na certa (assume something to be true without verification or proof) · es menospreciar (give little attention to or to underestimate the value of) · ru воспринима́ть как до́лжное (give little attention to or to underestimate the value of) · scn dari pi scuntatu (assume something to be true without verification or proof)