taking control
Assuming the reins
Taking control means assuming authority or command over a situation, organization, or process.
The phrase often implies wresting power from someone else or stepping in where leadership was absent: After the CEO resigned, the board took control.
It can describe physical acts like seizing equipment or territory, or abstract shifts like taking control of your life.
The gerund form emphasizes the active, ongoing nature of the assumption: Taking control of the meeting, she redirected the conversation.
- take chargeBegin leading a situation
- seize the dayEmbrace the present moment
- overseeManage and direct
- manageDirect or handle successfully
- directionWay something faces
seizing · in the driver's seat · call the shots · running the show · command · self-determination · agency · autonomy · governance · supervision · assertiveness · self-possession · ownership · overtake · mastery · dominance · coordination · initiative
- initiativetake action, go for it, initiating, take the lead, proactive
- Taking Initiativeinitiative, first move, proactive, self-starter, bold action
taking controlsurrendering
Ceasing to resist
letting go · handing over · abdicating · yielding · submitting
taking controlsubmitting
Giving in or delivering
yielding · deferring · capitulating · acquiescing · backing down
taking, control, taken, taker, takers, undertaking, overtaking, overtaken, intake