to take exception
18
8.4
- phrasal verb
- Jargon
:
objetar
- In court, the defendant's attorney took exception to the evidence presented by the prosecution.
- take exception to such
- also took exception
Examples
-
The lawyer took exception to the judge's ruling during the trial.
-
I have to take exception to that characterization.
-
- I take exception to that.
-
Nice post, but I have to take exception with a couple of your premises.
Blog text (11) -
I take exception to people messing with my brother.
-
But, Your honour, the prosecution takes exception.
-
Of course, there were some in the press yesterday that immediately took exception to Kiffin's comments.
Blog text (17) -
Believe me, I am as conservative as they come, but I take exception to your opinion about Leon Panetta.
Blog text (27) -
Some women took exception to the extensive range of rules regulating their behavior and personal habits.
Academic text (1993) -
No, I take exception to impugning my professionalism.
Synonyms
552
4.3
To officially say that a decision, person, or evidence is not acceptable
3
8.9
Show that you disagree or are unwilling, often for legal and moral reasons
Antonyms
How Strong
Surface Forms
Morphology
The noun 'exception' already carries the meaning of an objection and 'take' here functions as 'adopt/express' (compare 'take offense' or 'take action'), so the overall sense 'to object to' is largely derivable from the parts. However, this is a somewhat formal, collocational use of 'take' that may not be immediately transparent to lower-intermediate learners without exposure, making the relation partially predictable rather than fully compositional.
Etymology
Take exception may come from the simple image of someone actually taking or pointing to an exception, the one thing that does not fit, to show a problem. So, to take exception today means 'to object' or 'to complain'.