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Glite Dictionary
to take aim at

to take aim at

18 4.1
Direct attention, effort, or criticism toward a target
  • phrasal verb
  • /teɪk eɪm æt/
translation icon : apuntar a
  • During the meeting, he took aim at the flaws in the proposed budget plan.

And we had and now we and now what we've also seen is Trump has taken aim at Mike Pence.

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Examples

  • Then we can take aim at the Golden Gloves.

    Big George Foreman (2023)

  • Diamond took aim at banking stress tests in his letter too.

    Patrick Boyle

  • So he seems, if I understand him, to be taking aim at only 10% of the target.

    Blog text (30)

  • However, they take aim at the household survey.

    Academic text (2005)

  • Congress and the White House also took aim at Roe.

    Academic text (1997)

  • In the same press conference, Boehner also took aim at the Senate.

    Blog text (14)

  • Earlier this week, Spotify took aim at Pandora by launching its own free Internet radio service.

    Blog text (19)

  • Scofield's notes take aim at those who assert errors in the biblical text.

    Academic text (2006)

  • After winning national elections in 1958-59, TANU members of the Legislative Council took aim at filmmaking in East Africa.

    Academic text (2005)

  • Fieger took aim at the "intent" loophole and steered Kevorkian toward it.

    Academic text (1996)

Synonyms

to target
vsto take aim at
821 2.9

To direct an action or message at people

adds that attention can also be critical, not only action or effort
to direct
vsto take aim at
245 1.8

To point something like light or attention at a target

is similar but explicitly includes criticism as a possible focus
to aim at
vsto take aim at
239 2.3

Try to reach a goal

is wider, covering both effort toward goals and critical attention
to aim for
vsto take aim at
79 2.8

To try to reach a goal

includes that the same direction can be used for criticism too
to level
vsto take aim at
53 5.4

To direct strong criticism or blame at someone

covers that pointed focus but also general effort or attention shifts
to take aim
vsto take aim at
31 3.5

Point a weapon, camera, or object at a target to get ready to use it

is broader, applying to attention, effort, or criticism as well
to shoot for
vsto take aim at
  • Informal
30 3.9

To try to reach a big, difficult goal

is similar but also applies to criticism or ordinary effort toward goals
to take potshots at
vsto take aim at
  • Offensive
4 8.1

To make quick, unfair critical remarks about someone or their ideas

is different, focusing actions or attention toward a goal rather than mocking
to draw a bead on
vsto take aim at
8.2

Pay close attention to a person, goal, or problem

is broader, shifting effort or criticism toward goals as well as precise focus

Antonyms

to ignore
∞ 1.0

Choose not to pay attention to someone or something

How Targeted

to zero in on
44 4.2
to target
821 2.9
to take aim at
18 4.1
to single out
103 4.4
to focus on
∞ 2.0
to refer
818 2.4
to mention
∞ 1.0

Surface Forms

take aim at infinitive
taking aim at present participle
takes aim at third person singular
took aim at past
taken aim at past participle

Morphology

take + aim + at

The verb 'aim' already encodes targeting and 'at' marks the target, while 'take' here means to adopt or assume (an aim), so the composite meaning 'direct attention/effort or criticism toward X' is directly derivable from the parts. This construction parallels cross-linguistic patterns (e.g. 'apuntar a' in Spanish, 'viser sur' in French) and will be immediately comprehensible to a B1 learner who knows the constituent words.

Etymology

Take aim at comes from the clear image of someone lifting a bow or gun and pointing to aim at a target before they shoot. So, to take aim at someone today means to point your attention, effort, or criticism at them, in other words 'to target' them.