to take it upon oneself
28
5.3
- phrasal verb
:
encargarse de
- She decided to take it upon herself to organize the charity event without being asked.
- took it upon myself to try
Examples
-
In recent years, she'd taken it upon herself to look after the Kelly ranch, too.
Fiction book (2000) -
Should I take it upon myself to try to unfold this, Dr. Anderson?
Academic text (2004) -
So, I took it upon myself to look out for him.
-
And I have taken it upon myself... to teach you.
-
My father, when he was a boy, took it upon himself to change his name.
Fiction book (2000) -
"And if I do not hear from you, I will take it upon myself to call."
Fiction book (1991) -
Since DC is not going to create one, I took it upon myself to lead the way.
Blog text (8) -
Joe Cochran took it upon himself to get Joe Jackson out of town.
Fiction book (1998) -
David, you should never have taken it upon yourself to administer medication to her.
-
I took it upon myself to send Alfred's tape from the game against Dennis Thompson to a few teams in the CBA.
Synonyms
405
2.8
To agree to do a job or task
193
3.3
To admit you caused a problem and accept the blame
79
3.2
To start guiding a group or activity and make the main decisions
67
6.8
To do something without asking for permission, as if you are allowed
To do something without being asked or helped
To accept responsibility for and control someone or something
Antonyms
How Responsible
98
3.5
193
3.3
28
5.3
391
2.0
- Informal
486
1.0
Surface Forms
Morphology
The constituent meanings ('take' = assume, 'upon' = on/about, 'oneself' = reflexive) support an interpretation of assuming something onto oneself, so a learner could infer a general sense of taking responsibility. However the specific pragmatic nuance — deciding to act or assume responsibility without being asked or authorized — is not fully predictable from the parts and relies on idiomatic usage, so it is only partially transparent.
Etymology
The phrase take it upon oneself comes from the picture of someone physically lifting a heavy load onto their shoulders, because they take the weight upon oneself. So it means deciding to do something or 'taking responsibility' without being asked.