take off — plane leaves the ground
phrasal verbB1IELTS 5+neutralcommon
When a plane leaves the ground and starts flying.
Say it like a native
Textbook The aircraft became airborne on schedule.
Native The plane took off on time.
'Take off' is the everyday verb for a plane leaving the ground; 'became airborne' is technical.
Pattern: take off (no object)
In use
- The plane will take off in a few minutes.travel
- During my last holiday, our flight took off late because of bad weather.IELTS speaking
Common mistake
✗ The plane took off from the sky.
✓ The plane took off. / The plane took off from Heathrow.
'Take off FROM' a place (the airport), not 'from the sky'. The opposite is 'land'.
Common collocations
take off + flight— on time, from Gatwick, smoothly, late
Don't confuse it
Not the same as 'land', which means to come down to the ground.
Related
- take off (become successful) — Another meaning of 'take off' is 'become successful'; compare the examples to keep the meanings separate.