take off — remove clothing
phrasal verbB1IELTS 5+neutralcore
To remove a piece of clothing from your body.
Say it like a native
Textbook Please remove your footwear before entering.
Native Take your shoes off before you come in.
'Take off' is the everyday verb for removing clothing; 'remove your footwear' sounds like a sign, not speech.
Pattern: take off (something)
In use
- Please take off your shoes before entering the house.daily life
- In my culture, we always take off our shoes when we visit someone's home.IELTS speaking
Common mistake
✗ Take off your shoes off at the door.
✓ Take your shoes off at the door. / Take off your shoes at the door.
'Take off' is separable — say it once: 'take your shoes off' OR 'take off your shoes'.
Common collocations
take off + clothing— your shoes, your coat, your hat, make-up
Don't confuse it
Opposite of 'put on', which means to wear something.
Related
- take off (plane leaves the ground) — Another meaning of 'take off' is 'plane leaves the ground'; compare the examples to keep the meanings separate.