take at face value

• accept at face value

take at face value (third-person singular simple present takes at face value, present participle taking at face value, simple past took at face value, past participle taken at face value)

1. (transitive, figuratively) Accept as presented, without question or further investigation.

   Synonyms: take on trust, take on faith

   Antonyms: take with a grain of salt, read between the lines

   • 1991, Douglas Coupland, “New Zealand Gets Nuked, Too”, in Generation X, New York: St. Martin's Press, →OCLC, page 68:

     Our parents’ generation seems neither able nor interested in understanding how marketers exploit them. They take shopping at face value.

• on the face of it
• take seriously
• take someone at their word

• “take sth at face value”, in Cambridge English Dictionary, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Cambridge University Press, 1999–present.
• “take someone something at face value” (US) / “take someone something at face value” (UK) in Macmillan English Dictionary.
• “take something at face value” in Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, Longman.