Dictionary

take someone at their word en · VERB

Meanings

1. (transitive) 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.
2. (transitive) 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. 2023, Phil Illy, “Autosexuality Beyond Gender”, in Autoheterosexual: Attracted to Being the Other Sex, Houndstooth Press, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 447:

Forms

Relateds

on the face of it · take at face value

Translations (17)

fr prendre au pied de la lettre (take someone literally even though they may not have been serious) · ru пове́рить на́ слово (believe someone without having the means to check that what they said is true) · ru ве́рить на́ слово (believe someone without having the means to check that what they said is true) · nb ta noen på alvor (take someone literally even though they may not have been serious) · pl uwierzyć na słowo (believe someone without having the means to check that what they said is true) · da tage nogen på ordet (take someone literally even though they may not have been serious) · fr prendre au sérieux (take someone literally even though they may not have been serious) · fi luottaa sanaan (believe someone without having the means to check that what they said is true) · fi ottaa kirjaimellisesti (take someone literally even though they may not have been serious) · nb ta noen på ordet (take someone literally even though they may not have been serious) · fi ottaa todesta (take someone literally even though they may not have been serious) · pl traktować poważnie (take someone literally even though they may not have been serious) · nb ta noen på ordet (believe someone without having the means to check that what they said is true) · fr croire sur parole (believe someone without having the means to check that what they said is true) · pl potraktować poważnie (take someone literally even though they may not have been serious) · fr prendre au mot (take someone literally even though they may not have been serious) · pl wierzyć na słowo (believe someone without having the means to check that what they said is true)