Meanings
present singular third person takes turns · participle present taking turns · past took turns · participle past taken turns
- intransitivepoliteOf two or more people, to do the same thing one after another, taking one another's place alternately.
We take turns to answer the phone.
1 more example
Round-robin scheduling arranges to have all teams or players take turns playing each other
Synonyms: alternate, take in turn, take it in turns
Synonyms & antonyms
verbOf two or more people, to do the same thing one after another, taking one another's place alternately.
More synonyms by meaning
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Translations
Chinese Mandarin 輪班 /轮班, 輪換 /轮换
- 輪班 /轮班 (lúnbān)do the same thing one after another
- 輪換 /轮换 (lúnhuàn)do the same thing one after another
- 交替 (jiāotì)do the same thing one after another
- 倒替 (dǎotì)do the same thing one after another
Danish skiftes ad
- skiftes addo the same thing one after another
Dutch om de beurt, elkaar afwisselen
- om de beurtdo the same thing one after another
- elkaar afwisselendo the same thing one after another
Finnish vuorotella
- vuorotellado the same thing one after another
French se relayer, faire quelque chose à tour de rôle
- se relayerdo the same thing one after another
- faire quelque chose à tour de rôledo the same thing one after another
German sich abwechseln
- sich abwechselndo the same thing one after another
Hungarian felváltva
- felváltvado the same thing one after another
Icelandic skiptast á
- skiptast ádo the same thing one after another
Irish ar a seal, sealaíocht a dhéanamh
- ar a sealdo the same thing one after another
- sealaíocht a dhéanamhdo the same thing one after another
Italian avvicendarsi
- avvicendarsido the same thing one after another
Norwegian Bokmål rullere
- rulleredo the same thing one after another
Polish robić na zmianę
- robić na zmianędo the same thing one after another
Portuguese revezar
- revezardo the same thing one after another
Russian сменяться, чередоваться
- сменяться (smenjatʹsja)do the same thing one after another
- чередоваться (čeredovatʹsja)do the same thing one after another
Spanish turnarse, alternarse
- turnarsedo the same thing one after another
- alternarsedo the same thing one after another
- rotarsedo the same thing one after another
Swedish turas om
- turas omdo the same thing one after another
Ukrainian чергува́тися
- чергува́тися (čerhuvátysja)do the same thing one after another
Cite this entry
take turns. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/take%20turns
“take turns.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/take%20turns. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “take turns,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/take%20turns.
Source: take turns on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.