Pronunciation: /ʌp/

Definitions of up

adjective in a state of being awake or conscious

Example Sentences

A1 The cat climbed up the tree.

A2 She hung up the phone after the call.

B1 The prices have gone up since last month.

B2 He was up all night studying for the exam.

C1 The company's profits are up this quarter.

C2 The team is gearing up for the championship game.

adverb used to indicate direction or movement to a higher place or position

Example Sentences

A1 I woke up early this morning.

A2 She stood up and walked to the door.

B1 They cleaned up the kitchen after dinner.

B2 The company's profits went up significantly last quarter.

C1 The CEO was called up to the stage to receive the award.

C2 The new software system speeds up the process by 50%.

preposition indicating a direction toward a higher place or position

Example Sentences

A1 I woke up early this morning.

A2 She put up a poster on the wall.

B1 The cat climbed up the tree to catch the bird.

B2 The hikers made their way up the steep mountain.

C1 The company's profits went up significantly this year.

C2 The artist's work has been put up in galleries around the world.

Examples of up in a Sentence

formal The stock market is up today after positive earnings reports.

informal Hey, what's up? How's it going?

slang I'm feeling all fired up for the concert tonight!

figurative She always knows how to lift me up when I'm feeling down.

Grammatical Forms of up

past tense

upped

plural

ups

comparative

upper

superlative

uppermost

present tense

up

future tense

will up

perfect tense

have upped

continuous tense

is upping

singular

up

positive degree

up

infinitive

to up

gerund

upping

participle

upped

Origin and Evolution of up

First Known Use: 1250 year
Language of Origin: Old English
Story behind the word: The word 'up' originated from Old English as a combination of the prefix 'up-' and the adverb 'ūt' meaning 'out'.
Evolution of the word: Over time, the word 'up' has retained its basic meaning of moving in a direction opposite to gravity, but has also taken on additional connotations such as improvement, completion, or increase.