Dictionary

take its toll en · VERB

Pronunciation

• (Australia) audio

Meanings

1. (followed by on, idiomatic, often) To affect something, especially negatively; to damage or degrade; to cause harm or destruction.
   • A lot of attention has rightly been paid to the toll that fulfilling our orders takes upon workers in warehouses or drivers in delivery vans. 2019 November 21, Samanth Subramanian, “How our home delivery habit reshaped the world”, in The Guardian:
   • The Thirty Years' War in Germany took its toll of bloodshed without bequeathing as a recompense any real political or moral blessing. 2015, Charles Sydney Goldman, The Empire and the century, Introduction:
   • England not only reached the World Cup semi-finals for the first time since Italia 90, they did the job under the pressure of the occasion and the requirement to back up the victory over Colombia on penalties in the last 16 - with all of the mental toll that will have taken. 2018 July 7, Phil McNulty, “Sweden 0-2 England”, in BBC Sport:
   • Time had taken its toll on the old bridge, and it was no longer sound.
   • Heavy smoking and drinking will take its toll on a person's health.

Forms

Synonyms

do a number on

Translations (23)

ro a face ravagii (to affect negatively) · ro a reduce numărul (to affect negatively) · pt trazer consequências (to affect negatively) · de seinen Tribut fordern (to affect negatively) · es tener sus consecuencias (to affect negatively) · es pasar factura (to affect negatively) · fi jättää jälkensä (to affect negatively) · it pesare (to affect negatively) · pt fazer um estrago (to affect negatively) · ja 損失をもたらす (to affect negatively) · ro a-şi spune cuvântul (to affect negatively) · ro a reduce puterea (to affect negatively) · fi ottaa veronsa (to affect negatively) · ro a-şi cere obolul (to affect negatively) · sv ta ut sin rätt (to affect negatively) · es cobrarse el peaje (to affect negatively) · cs přijít draze (to affect negatively) · sv sätta sina spår (to affect negatively) · de seine Opfer fordern (to affect negatively) · fi vaatia veronsa (to affect negatively) · cmn 负面地影响 (to affect negatively) · fr faire des ravages (to affect negatively) · ro a-şi lua birul (to affect negatively)