Meaning & use
take for granted
Last updated
Meanings
phraseidiom
To value someone or something too little because you are so used to having them around and expect them always to be there.
Grammar: Takes an object placed between take and for granted: you take your health for granted.
Patterns
- take someone for granted
- take something for granted
He realized he had taken his parents for granted until he moved away.
We take clean running water for granted, but millions of people have no access to it.
Employees who feel taken for granted often start looking for other jobs.
phraseidiom
To assume that something is true or will happen without stopping to check or ask.
Grammar: Often followed by that: I took it for granted that you knew.
Patterns
- take it for granted that something
- take something for granted
I took it for granted that the train would be on time, so I left late.
Don't take for granted that everyone has read the instructions.
She took his agreement for granted and never asked him.
Word forms
| third person singular | takes for granted |
|---|---|
| past tense | took for granted |
| past participle | taken for granted |
| -ing form | taking for granted |
Common combinations
- take your health for granted
- Most young people take their health for granted.
- feel taken for granted
- After years of unpaid overtime, she felt taken for granted.
- easy to take for granted
- Electricity is easy to take for granted until the power fails.
- take it for granted that
- Never take it for granted that the meeting will start on schedule.
- take someone for granted
- Don't take your friends for granted; call them sometimes.
Synonyms and how they differ
- overlook
- Overlook means to fail to notice or consider something, without the sense of expecting it to always be there.
- underappreciate
- Underappreciate focuses on not valuing enough, while take for granted suggests the cause is complacent expectation.
- presume
- Presume fits only the assumption sense and sounds more formal than take for granted.
- assume
- Assume covers the belief-without-checking sense but never carries the idea of failing to appreciate someone.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: take for granted or take as given?
take for granted vs take as given
This is a rarer phrase meaning to accept a premise; it does not carry the sense of failing to appreciate someone.
Practice
Maya never says thank you to the neighbor who collects her mail every week; she simply ___.
Choose one answer.
Taking someone for granted means expecting their help without appreciating it. The other phrases (take on, take in, take over) have different meanings and do not fit.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “take for granted”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.