up against


Contending or confronted with, as in I'm up against a strong opponent in this election. This idiom is also put as up against it, which means “in serious difficulty, especially in desperate financial straits.” For example, When the collection agency called again, we knew we were up against it. [Late 1800s]

Words Nearby up against

The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.

How to use up against in a sentence

  • Hence it was that he found in Great Britain an implacable enemy ever stirring up against him European coalitions.

    Napoleon's Marshals | R. P. Dunn-Pattison
  • Seems as if K. was beginning to come up against those political forces which have ever been a British Commander's bane.

  • The drunk was in a dismal alley, leaning up against the wall of a tavern which he had evidently just left.

  • I have borne me up against affliction, till my o'ercharged bosom can contain no longer.

    The Battle of Hexham; | George Colman
  • The utmost circumspection became necessary, and the young preacher had to bear up against much strife and opposition.

    Skipper Worse | Alexander Lange Kielland