idiom · neutral
take the bull by the horns
UK/teɪk ðə bʊl baɪ ðə hɔːnz/US/teɪk ðə bʊl baɪ ðə hɔrnz/take·the·BULL·by·the·HORNS
to deal with a difficult situation in a direct and confident way
Examples
“When sales dropped, the manager took the bull by the horns and restructured the team.”
“You should take the bull by the horns and ask for feedback.”
“She took the bull by the horns and confronted the supplier about the delays.”
Band 8 sentence
“Rather than postpone the meeting, she took the bull by the horns and addressed the conflict openly.”
Collocations
- take the bull by the horns and + verb
- decide to take the bull by the horns
- take the bull by the horns with + problem/issue
Word family
Common mistakes
He took bull by the horns.→He took the bull by the horns.
She took the bull on the horns.→She took the bull by the horns.
Say it for a higher band
5deal with the problem→6face the problem head-on→7+take the bull by the horns
Synonyms
face the problem head-on
Easily confused
face the problem head-on
“The government needs to face the problem head-on to find a solution.”
Related words
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In Work
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