chalk up

verb

chalked up; chalking up; chalks up

transitive verb

1

: ascribe, credit

chalked up his failures to inexperience

2

: attain, achieve

chalk up another victory

Synonyms of chalk up

• attribute
• ascribe

Examples of chalk up in a Sentence

let's chalk up her weird behavior to simple nervousness

chalked up a record in singles tennis that is likely to stand for a long time

Recent Examples on the Web

The privacy concerns are real—from the suit to data collection, and even the social media content made with the tech has left people chalking up Meta Glasses as a form of surveillance. — Joshua Hong, Fortune, 14 Aug. 2026

Many of these times, KFA employees allegedly filed false expense reports chalking up the charges to meals, drinks, or standard massages. — Jessie Yeung, CNN Money, 12 Aug. 2026

Perhaps in writing it, Salinger was trying to negotiate whether his remarkable survival through some of the war’s worst gauntlets could be chalked up to dumb luck, or divine intervention. — Literary Hub, 10 Aug. 2026

Burk chalked up the weekend issues to not fully anticipating the type of crowd that would be attending the two nights of Banana Ball. — Idaho Statesman, 6 Aug. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1877, in the meaning defined at sense 2

Rhymes for chalk up

• backup
• blowup
• breakup
• buildup
• checkup
• cleanup
• holdup
• hookup
• lineup
• lockup
• makeup
• markup