having gained an advantage in some way that betokens success, especially over rivals.
leading an opponent by one point or one scoring unit.
The home team was one up on the visitors.
one each; tied at a score of one.
The score was one up in the ninth inning.
Printing. with only one reproduction of a form per sheet or on a given sheet.
We must print this job one up.
Journalism. using one more column of space than of type.
First recorded in 1920–25
First recorded in 1960–65
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
While there are other ways for parents to save money for children, experts say it’s worth setting one up just in case your child becomes eligible for a contribution.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 6, 2026
“He was the only one up there and the only one who could have lit that fire,” she said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 24, 2026
The same logic works in reverse: travelers who want a London IP for the BBC iPlayer or a Tokyo IP for region-locked Japanese services can spin one up in seconds.
From Salon ● Jun. 10, 2026
Airlines love to one up each other when it comes to new perks for big-spending business travelers and vacationers.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 27, 2026
He squatted on his heels and picked one up and smelled it and put it back.
From "The Road" by Cormac McCarthy
If it doesn’t try to one-up Fox, Netflix could explore other acquisitions.
From Barron's ● Jun. 17, 2026
Ever since the launch of ChatGPT, top artificial-intelligence labs have been embroiled in a cutthroat competition to one-up each other with powerful new features.
From MarketWatch ● Apr. 18, 2026
So rather than just creating gadgets that one-up the phone, you get to actually explore new use cases.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 8, 2025
Roberts said his team’s starting pitchers are all competing to one-up each other, giving the significance of the games now.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 10, 2025
But Harry didn’t care, he was one-up on Malfoy, and that was worth five points from Gryffindor any day.
From "Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets" by J. K. Rowling
His wife, Amber, one-upped him, telling Marmol he should do it for the rest of the weekend.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 21, 2026
Anthropic one-upped its rival the next month, fielding proposals from investors that would value it at as much as $900 billion, according to multiple reports.
From Barron's ● May 22, 2026
Not wanting to be one-upped by my speed-reading girlfriend, I threw myself into it.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 16, 2026
Musk went around the table, prodding the other members of the team as they one-upped one another with outrageous examples of their own.
From Salon ● Aug. 24, 2025
You stage a power play by conning the older guy out of some fake winnings, then mouth around that you one-upped the boss.
From "X: A Novel" by Ilyasah Shabazz
Locked in a state of intergenerational co-dependence, Deborah and Ava fuss and fight, poke at each other’s insecurities, then reach common ground — all while one-upping each other with impossibly funny dialogue.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 22, 2025
With Amazon One, the company may be most concerned with one-upping its competitors, Apple and Google, which already collect retina and fingerprint data from millions of device users.
From Slate ● Jun. 17, 2024
“People were one-upping each other on the ‘perfect’ scale,” Mr. Cho said.
From New York Times ● Jan. 30, 2024
Drivers have stayed busy by one-upping each other with antics and practical jokes.
From Seattle Times ● May 26, 2022
They've created a maelstrom of memes, all of which feature the bear one-upping Kane in some way.
From Salon ● Apr. 29, 2021
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.
