Take over or takeover?
take over is a verb meaning “To assume control of something, such as a business or enterprise, and sometimes…”; takeover is a noun meaning “The purchase of one company by another; a merger without the formation of a new…”. Use take over as a verb and takeover as a noun. take over is written as two words and takeover as one word; they are used differently.
What is the difference between take over and takeover?
| take over | takeover | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | verb, noun | noun |
| Meaning | To assume control of something, such as a business or enterprise, and sometimes by force To adopt a further responsibility or duty | The purchase of one company by another; a merger without the formation of a new company, especially where some stakeholders in the purchased company oppose the… UKThe acquisition of a public company whose shares are listed on a stock exchange, in contrast to the acquisition of a private company |
| Example | He will take over the job permanently when the accountant retires | Revollo was absent when Bolivian police and the navy captain arrived at dawn, and the base takeover came off without problems, according to… |
| Forms | none | takeovers |
| Pronunciation | not recorded | not recorded |
| In writing | not counted (the list counts single words) | 4.9 times per million words |
Sources: take over and takeover in the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Every current meaning of take over and takeover
take over
- 1
To assume control of something, such as a business or enterprise, and sometimes by force
- 2
Alternative form of takeover
- 3
To adopt a further responsibility or duty
He will take over the job permanently when the accountant retires
- 4
To relieve someone temporarily
My husband is taking over the accounts department during the holiday period, while the chief accountant is away
- 5
To buy out the ownership of a business
Acme Motors is to take Jetcar Industries over this week, if all goes as planned
- 6
To appropriate something without permission
- 7
To annex a territory by conquest or invasion; to conquer
Ancient Rome took over lands throughout the known world
- 8
To become more successful than (someone or something else)
Buzz Lightyear has taken over Woody as the most popular children's toy
takeover
- 1
The purchase of one company by another; a merger without the formation of a new company, especially where some stakeholders in the purchased company oppose the purchase
- 2
UKThe acquisition of a public company whose shares are listed on a stock exchange, in contrast to the acquisition of a private company
- 3
A time or event in which control or authority, especially over a facility is passed from one party to the next
Revollo was absent when Bolivian police and the navy captain arrived at dawn, and the base takeover came off without problems, according to a U.S. narcotics official
- 4
slangAn event at which teens gather in public and act out; a street takeover
Source: the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); obsolete, archaic, dialect and rare senses left out.
Which is more common, take over or takeover?
take over is a phrase, which the list of single words does not count; takeover 4.9 times per million words.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How many people search take over vs takeover?
“take over vs takeover” is searched about 50 times a month on Google and 10 on Bing in the United States. Google counts close variants of a query together (“takeover vs take over”, “take over or takeover”).
Sources: Google Ads keyword data through DataForSEO and Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, the average month from September 2025 to August 2026.