take to court

take to court — idiom

1. to begin a legal case against a person or organisation by asking a judge in cour

1.慣用語B2
釋義

to begin a legal case against a person or organisation by asking a judge in court to decide a dispute or settle a claim

例句

After the contractor refused to fix the leaking roof, Kwame decided to take him to court.

take + person + to court — direct object between 'take' and 'to court'

The musician threatened to take the streaming service to court over unpaid royalties.

collocation: threaten to take [someone] to court

同義詞
  • sue

    more direct and commonly used in everyday speech; 'take to court' is slightly more formal

  • prosecute

    used only for criminal cases brought by the state, not for civil disputes between private parties

  • litigate

    more technical and formal; focuses on the entire legal process rather than the initial action

反義詞

用法筆記

The direct object (the person or organisation being sued) always appears between 'take' and 'to court.' Common with verbs like 'threaten,' 'decide,' 'plan,' and 'advise' that set up the legal action as a future step.

常見錯誤

❌She took to court her employer.
✅She took her employer to court.
💡the object must go between 'take' and 'to court,' not after 'court.'
❌They took to the court the builder.
✅They took the builder to court.
💡'court' without 'the' is the correct form in this idiom; 'the court' refers to the physical building.