1
general::
Phrase(s): take someone or something at face value
to accept someone or something just as it appears; to believe that the way things appear is the way they really are. • He means what he says. You have to take him at face value. • I take everything he says at face value., Phrase(s): take something at face value
to accept something exactly the way it appears to be. • I don’t know whether I can take her story at face value, but I will assume that she is not lying. • The committee took the report at face value and approved the suggested changes.
McGrawhill's American Idioms And Phrasal Verbs
2
general::
see AT FACE VALUE., Accept from its outward appearance, as in You can't always take a manufacturer's advertisements at face value; they're bound to exaggerate. Literally this id iom has referred to the monetary value printed on a bank note, stock certificate, bond, or other financial instrument since the 1870s. The figurative usage is from the late 1800s.
American Heritage Idioms