care

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA ^(key): /kɛə/, SAMPA: /kE@/
• (US) IPA ^(key): /kɛr/, SAMPA: /kEr/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Noun

Singular care

Plural cares

1. (uncountable) Care is the act of helping someone, especially sick people, the very young or the very old.

   He decided not to seek health care from a hospitals.

   We take the kids to child care during the week.

2. (uncountable) If you take care of someone, you watch them so that there is no trouble.

   You're going to need someone to take care of you when you get older.

   We'll be taking real good care of you. I promise.

3. (uncountable) If you take care of a problem, you fix it or arrange it.

   Don's worry. Pearl and Edward will take care of things.

   We go in, do our job, and take care of what we need to take care of.

4. (uncountable) You say "Take care!" when you are leaving somebody.

   That's it. All right. Jim, good to see you. Take care.

5. (uncountable) You say "Take care!" when you want somebody to do something safely.

   Go slowly and take care not to touch anything.

   Care should be taken when holding eggs.

6. (uncountable) Care is the act of keeping something in a good condition.

   I'm caring for the house while they're away.

7. (countable) A Care is a worry, concern, or something that you think about often.

   I don't have a care in the world.

Verb

Plain form care

Third-person singular cares

Past tense cared

Past participle cared

Present participle caring

1. (intransitive) If you don't care about something, you don't think about it often or have a concern for it; it doesn't matter.

   I don't care what happens to my car.

2. (intransitive) If you care about something, you think it is important.

   He only cares about his car.

3. (intransitive) If you care for somebody, look after

   Young children can learn to care for a pet.