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• one up
  one up

  adjective

  having gained an advantage in some way that betokens success, especially over rivals.
• one-up
  one-up

  verb (used with object)

  to get the better of; succeed in being a point, move, step, etc., ahead of (someone).

one up

¹ American  

adjective

1. having gained an advantage in some way that betokens success, especially over rivals.

2. leading an opponent by one point or one scoring unit.

   The home team was one up on the visitors.

3. one each; tied at a score of one.

   The score was one up in the ninth inning.

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adverb

1. Printing. with only one reproduction of a form per sheet or on a given sheet.

   We must print this job one up.

2. Journalism. using one more column of space than of type.

one-up ² American  

[wuhn-uhp] / ˈwʌnˈʌp /

verb (used with object)

one-upped, one-upping

1. to get the better of; succeed in being a point, move, step, etc., ahead of (someone).

   They one-upped the competition.

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one-up British  

adjective

1. informal having or having scored an advantage or lead over someone or something

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one up Idioms  

1. Having an advantage or lead over someone, as in Sara is one up on Jane because she passed algebra in summer school. This expression comes from sports, where it means to be one point ahead of one's opponents. It was transferred to more general use about 1920.

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Etymology

Origin of one up¹

First recorded in 1920–25

Origin of one-up²

First recorded in 1960–65

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

one up one-up one-upped one-upping

Then over the weekend, the big one: up to seaside Newport, R.I., where he’ll be formally inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 25, 2026

Resident Louise Nicholson initially thought the creatures - which can sting - were seaweed and "almost picked one up" before she began to take pictures.

From BBC ● Jul. 30, 2026

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

I open one up and peel off thin slices to eat.

From "Finding Junie Kim" by Ellen Oh

He once told a lobbyist who raised quarter horses that he owned a herd of polo ponies, just to one-up him.

From Salon ● Sep. 23, 2026

"I was trying to one-up him every single time, and he was trying to one-up me. It was almost like a battle," she recalls.

From BBC ● Aug. 12, 2026

If it doesn’t try to one-up Fox, Netflix could explore other acquisitions.

From Barron's ● Jun. 17, 2026

“Every act that comes in there—and I love this—everyone tries to one-up the last act.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 24, 2026

Wick was a shadowshaper, but the powers he received from the Sorrows had given him a one-up over the others.

From "Shadowshaper" by Daniel José Older

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

Shortly thereafter, George’s brother, Dick, one-upped him, winning the biggest of rowing prizes, the nearly two-hundred-year-old Doggett’s Coat and Badge itself.

From "The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics" by Daniel James Brown

“Who thought it was a good idea to publicly challenge an educator to a 25k "one-upping" contest? Really?”

From Salon ● Feb. 8, 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

There’s the tiniest glint of guilt in his eyes as his protégé replaces him, one-upping him with a shamelessness that we still haven’t seen the depths of.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 21, 2024

While Watkins leans into scorn for the insufferable urbanites one-upping one another, he seems to treasure the more introspective figures of Morkan and Ames.

From New York Times ● Jun. 23, 2022

Drivers have stayed busy by one-upping each other with antics and practical jokes.

From Seattle Times ● May 26, 2022