Jump To:

• stitch-up
  stitch-up

  noun

  a scheme of deception that exploits or falsely incriminates someone, possibly leading to a false arrest; a setup.
• stitch up
  stitch up

  verb

  to join or mend by means of stitches or sutures

stitch-up

American  

[stich-uhp] / ˈstɪtʃˌʌp /

noun

British Informal.

1. a scheme of deception that exploits or falsely incriminates someone, possibly leading to a false arrest; a setup.

   These allegations against the mayor are part of an outrageous stitch-up.

---

stitch up British  

verb

1. to join or mend by means of stitches or sutures

2. slang

   1. to incriminate (someone) on a false charge by manufacturing evidence

   2. to betray, cheat, or defraud

3. slang to prearrange (something) in a clandestine manner

---

noun

1. slang a matter that has been prearranged clandestinely

Etymology

Origin of stitch-up

First recorded in 1980–85; stitch ( def. ) + up ( def. )

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

stitch-up stitch up

"We're convinced it was going to be a stitch-up", remembers Test Match Special's Jonathan Agnew, who had joined the touring party in Calcutta after Paul Allott had to return home with a back injury.

From BBC ● Mar. 6, 2024

He wrote on X: "The latest stitch-up represents yet another flagrant attack on local democracy."

From BBC ● Sep. 19, 2023

But that does not mean I can't see a stitch-up when it's staring me in the face.

From BBC ● Sep. 1, 2023

Because these snarls are the product of decisions made years ago and solving them requires more than some quick stitch-up work, short-term reactions are "usually too little, too late," Hopp said.

From Salon ● Jun. 5, 2022

Here’s a stitch-up of a work colleague, albeit an accidental one.

From The Guardian ● Dec. 7, 2012

In 1951, he published the first royal tell-all memoir, A King’s Story, which flew off the shelves and painted him as a victim of an establishment stitch up.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 11, 2026

"It felt and smelt like a stitch up and that is what it was," he told the Bournemouth Echo.

From BBC ● Dec. 3, 2022

"We will stitch up the wounds and the pain of our country and our city," said Aliev, a 23-year-old musician.

From Reuters ● Mar. 14, 2022

I read tales of school nurses, veterinarians, and overall good and kind souls who will restuff and stitch up a stuffed toy in special “clinics.”

From Washington Post ● Feb. 20, 2022

If the mouth is too wide, she'll stitch up the comers.

From "Bronx Masquerade" by Nikki Grimes