to take kindly to
16
5.6
- phrasal verb
:
tomar a bien
- Gadfly that he was, Wellcome did not take kindly to being overlooked.
- take kindly to people
- take kindly to strangers
- take kindly to the notion
So therefore he will not take kindly to your request of any kind.
- So therefore he will not take kindly to your request of any kind.
- My sense the CBS would not take kindly to that kind of reporting.
Examples
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Samantha was fifteen going on thirty, a know-it-all who didn't take kindly to being treated like a child.
Fiction book (1999) -
Catherine, not many take kindly to people going through their things.
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We do not take kindly to a pressure campaign.
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My sense the CBS would not take kindly to that kind of reporting.
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The Duke will not take kindly to a rival for his suit.
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He's not known to take kindly to visitors.
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Congress didn't take kindly to it.
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We don't take kindly to strangers who come around here.
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There may be some people out there that won't take kindly to his threats.
Blog text (25) -
He does not take kindly to people who interrupt him during meetings.
Synonyms
∞
3.5
To tolerate an unpleasant situation without complaining
Antonyms
How Accepting
390
3.9
583
1.0
793
1.0
16
5.6
290
3.5
Surface Forms
Morphology
The sense 'to react favorably or accept' is partly derivable from 'take' (receive/accept) combined with 'kindly' (in a benevolent way), so a learner who knows the words can often infer a positive reception. However, the phrase is a fixed collocation with idiomatic use (especially common in negative forms like 'doesn't take kindly to') and nuance that may not be fully predictable without exposure, so it is not fully transparent.
Etymology
The phrase take kindly to comes from a simple image: to take something is to receive it and kindly means with a friendly, positive feeling. So, if you do not take kindly to something, you do not 'accept' it happily and you may 'react badly'.