📦 Counting goods 🤔 Reviewing situation

stock-taking

5.2

A careful review of a situation to decide what to change

noun
/ˈstɑkˌteɪkɪŋ/

: evaluación

Let's do a quick stock-taking!

Examples

The stock-taking was effective.
After the failed project, the team conducted a thorough stock-taking to identify areas for improvement.
A period of stock-taking followed the unexpected results of the election.
The end of the year is a good time for personal stock-taking and setting new goals.
Before launching the new project, the team conducted a thorough stock-taking of their resources and capabilities.
The CEO emphasized the importance of stock-taking to evaluate the company's performance over the last quarter.
After the crisis, the organization engaged in stock-taking to reassess its strategies and address the challenges ahead.

Synonyms

consideration

vsstock-taking

148 2.9

Careful thought or discussion before making a decision

is a focused review aimed at assessment and action rather than general thought

stocktaking

vsstock-taking

5.6

Reviewing a situation or resources to judge progress and plan ahead

is the same meaning but written with a hyphenated form

Antonyms

ignorance

316 3.9

Not knowing about something or how it works

inattention

8 4.6

Not noticing things around you

How Thorough

audit

69 4.4

stock-taking

5.2

to review

Literature

252 2.9

check

720 1.0

glance

222 1.4

Surface Forms

stock-taking singular

stock-takings plural

Morphology

stock-taking = stock + taking (semi-transparent) = stock + take + ing

The figurative sense ('assessing a situation') is an understandable extension of the literal 'taking inventory' but is metaphorical and may not be immediately obvious to all learners.

Etymology

Stock-taking comes from stock meaning 'supply' and taking meaning 'checking' or 'counting'. A helpful way to remember it is to imagine counting what you have, so the phrase now also means carefully reviewing a situation to see where you stand.