to take the floor
2
4.2
- phrasal verb
:
tomar la palabra
- After a long debate, the moderator invited John to take the floor and share his opinion.
- once again took the floor
- Leader Mitchell took the floor
- took the floor once
Examples
-
I'll take the floor.
-
Finally, a politico of neither the President's nor Manuel's party quietly took the floor.
Academic text (1990) -
I'll just take the floor.
-
Let my opponent take the floor.
-
Now I call upon Dr. Ambedkar to take the floor.
-
He essentially took the floor and said we are on the wrong side of history.
-
He's not here, so I'll be taking the floor.
-
A dashing freshman congressman from Virginia would take the floor and establish himself as the leader of the pro-slavery position.
-
Dr. Smith will take the floor and present her research findings at the conference.
-
During the meeting, Maria was eager to take the floor and discuss her ideas.
Synonyms
∞
3.4
Give a speech to an audience about a subject
∞
3.2
To give a formal talk to a group of people
35
2.8
Give a formal talk to people at a public or special event
34
3.8
Go in front of an audience to perform or speak and be the main focus
8
3.3
To give a formal talk to an audience
Antonyms
How Public
- Formal
35
2.8
2
4.2
- Formal
236
4.4
- Formal
∞
3.2
43
2.0
11
4.2
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'to stand up and begin speaking' is partially derivable from 'take' (assume/occupy) combined with 'floor' when understood as the right/opportunity to address an assembly, so learners who know both senses can often guess the meaning. However, the institutional sense of 'floor' is somewhat idiomatic and register-specific and may not be known to all B1 learners without prior exposure, so the expression is not fully transparent.
Etymology
Take the floor comes from meetings and debates where the 'floor' is the place to speak; to take the floor means to stand up and speak, so it now means 'to begin speaking' in a formal gathering.