take one's lumps
verb
Simple meaning
To endure through criticism or other adversity.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
taykwuhnuhsluhmpsSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈteɪkwənɛsləmps
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
verb
slangfiguratively
To endure through criticism or other adversity.
slang
To receive physical abuse and to survive.
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: To endure through criticism or other adversity.
Used this way, take one's lumps is a reasonably familiar word with a faintly unfavourable edge. It turns up most in everyday conversation and social media or informal writing contexts.
- Emotional tone
- Slightly negative
- Formality
- Very casual
- Intensity
- Moderate
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Critical or judgemental
- Usage feel
- Playful and informal
Where it naturally appears
- Everyday conversation
- Social media/informal writing
Usage note
Slang: natural in speech and messages between friends, but out of place in school, work or published writing.
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.