take off — leave suddenly
phrasal verbC1IELTS 7+informaloccasional
To leave a place quickly and unexpectedly, often without warning or explanation.
Say it like a native
Textbook He departed abruptly without offering an explanation.
Native He just took off without a word.
'Take off' is the casual spoken verb for leaving suddenly; 'departed abruptly' is formal.
Pattern: take off (from somewhere)
In use
- As soon as the police arrived, the crowd took off in all directions.informal
- During the protest, several participants took off when they saw the authorities approaching, which made it difficult to identify everyone involved.IELTS speaking
Common mistake
✗ He took off himself early.
✓ He took off early.
It's intransitive here — don't add 'himself'.
Common collocations
take off + departure— early, without a word, right after, suddenly
Don't confuse it
Unlike the B1 sense of 'take off' meaning a plane leaving the ground, or the B2 sense of 'become successful', this sense is about a person or group leaving a place suddenly and unexpectedly. It is figurative and informal.
Related
- take off (plane leaves the ground) — 'take off' also has the more basic meaning 'plane leaves the ground'; this is the advanced sense.