Meaning & use
intake
Last updated
Meanings
nounusually singular
The amount of food, drink, air or another substance that a person or animal takes into the body.
Grammar: Usually singular and followed by of or a modifier: daily intake of salt.
Patterns
- intake of something
- daily intake
Doctors advised him to reduce his sugar intake.
Her water intake rises sharply on hot days.
A runner's calorie intake is much higher during training.
nouncountableBritish
The group of people admitted to a school, job or organization at one time, or the number admitted.
Grammar: Takes an or the; often used for a yearly group: this year's intake.
Patterns
- the intake of something
- this year's intake
The college has a larger intake of students this autumn.
The new intake of nurses starts training in September.
Budget cuts reduced the army's annual intake.
nouncountabletechnical
An opening or pipe through which air, water or fuel is drawn into a machine or system.
Grammar: A thing, so it can be plural: water intakes.
Patterns
- air intake
- intake valve
Leaves blocked the air intake and the engine overheated.
The town's water intake sits upstream of the factory.
Mechanics cleaned the intake before the race.
Word forms
| plural | intakes |
|---|
Common combinations
- daily intake
- The daily intake of fiber should be higher for most adults.
- reduce your intake
- Try to reduce your intake of fried food.
- calorie intake
- Her calorie intake was monitored by a dietitian.
- annual intake
- The university limits its annual intake to five hundred students.
- air intake
- The car's air intake is behind the grille.
Synonyms and how they differ
- consumption
- Consumption is the amount used up or eaten over time and is wider in use, while intake emphasizes what enters the body or system.
- admission
- Admission is the act of letting one person in, whereas intake describes a whole group admitted together.
- inlet
- Inlet is the opening for a flow of liquid or air, and intake covers both the opening and the amount drawn in.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: intake or uptake?
intake vs uptake
Uptake is how quickly something is absorbed or adopted, while intake is the amount taken in.
Practice
The nutritionist warned that his salt ___ was far above the recommended level.
Choose one answer.
Intake is the amount of something taken into the body. Output is the reverse, and income is money, not food.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “intake”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.