take someone at their word

take someone at their word (third-person singular simple present takes someone at their word, present participle taking someone at their word, simple past took someone at their word, past participle taken someone at their word)

1. (transitive) To take someone literally even though they may not have been serious; to take someone seriously even though they were joking; to take up a challenge that was initially meant as a joke.
2. (transitive) To take someone's word for it, to believe someone without having the means to check that what they said is true.

• on the face of it
• take at face value

• “take someone at their word” (US) / “take someone at their word” (UK) in Macmillan English Dictionary.
• “take someone at their word”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
• “take sb at their word”, in Collins English Dictionary.
• “take someone at his word”, in Collins English Dictionary.