go up
Britishverb
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(also preposition) to move or lead to or as if to a higher place or level; rise; increase
prices are always going up
the curtain goes up at eight o'clock
new buildings are going up all around us
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to be destroyed
the house went up in flames
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to go or return (to college or university) at the beginning of a term or academic year
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Be put up, as in New buildings are going up all over town .
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Rise; increase. For example, His temperature is going up at an alarming rate , or The costs of construction are going up all the time . [Late 1800s]
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Also, be gone up . Be destroyed, ruined, done for; also, die, be killed. For example, If we're not back in a week, you'll know we've gone up , or In spite of our efforts, the plans for a new library are gone up . [ Slang ; mid-1800s]
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Forget one's lines on the stage or make a mistake in performing music. For example, Don't worry, you know your part and you won't go up , or He went up in the last movement of the sonata . [ Slang ; 1960s] Also see the subsequent idioms beginning with go up .
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
“We just wanted to go up there and kick everybody’s ass, and that was what we did, comprehensively,’ Armstrong said, laughing.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 5, 2026
Archers are sold starting at $2,000 and go up to around $5,000, depending on the equipment.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 5, 2026
"We've been there since the beginning," Goncalves said in the carbonised town of Le Porge, which has seen some 12 percent of its buildings go up in smoke.
From Barron's ● Jul. 31, 2026
The inflation rate is likely to go up in July, as millions of households in Scotland, England and Wales feel the impact of a 13% rise in domestic energy prices.
From BBC ● Jul. 29, 2026
The only witches they couldn’t go up against were the Town Gran and Uncle.
From "Witchlings" by Claribel A. Ortega
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
