up to

Idioms  

1. As far as or approaching a certain point. For example, The water was nearly up to the windowsill , or They allowed us up to two hours to finish the test , or This seed should yield up to 300 bushels per acre . [c. a.d. 950]

2. be up to . Be able to do or deal with, as in When I got home, she asked if I was up to a walk on the beach . This usage is often put negatively, that is, not be up to something , as in He's not up to a long drive . [Late 1700s]

3. Occupied with, engaged in, as in What have you been up to lately? This usage can mean “devising” or “scheming,” as in We knew those two were up to something . It also appears in up to no good , meaning “occupied with or devising something harmful,” as in I'm sure those kids are up to no good . [First half of 1800s]

4. Dependent on, as in The success of this project is up to us . [c. 1900] Also see the following idioms beginning with up to .

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

up to

Compared to AMD’s fifth-generation Turin CPUs, Nvidia said Vera delivers up to 1.9 times faster agentic performance and six times better latency.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 23, 2026

The lockup expiration on Aug. 6 will add up to 911.5 million shares to the market, roughly doubling the amount that are freed to trade.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 23, 2026

Ministers Lucy Powell and Louise Haigh will also operate regularly from the new site, with up to 300 civil servants expected to join them by the end of next year.

From BBC ● Jul. 23, 2026

The success of “Drive” really set you up to have a more straightforward Hollywood career, but it seemed like you turned away from that.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 23, 2026

Once, we’d teamed up to teach a group of Red Lake rez kids how to play Cherokee marbles out on the dock, and Trey had given me this look.

From "Legendary Frybread Drive-In" by Cynthia Leitich Smith

Related Words

• acceptable
• likely
• qualified
• suitable