face up

1 of 2

adjective or adverb

variants or less commonly faceup

ˌfās-ˈəp 

or face-up

: with the face up

After all the cards have been dealt, nondealer takes the top card from his pile and places it on the table, face up.

—Jack Botermans et al.

It didn't matter whether a phone was on or off, or whether it was face up or face down on a desk.

—Ralph K. M. Haurwitz

… we set the table with the forks' tines aggressively face-up.

—Molly O'Neill

For abdominal-flattening crunches, lie faceup on the floor with your knees bent and feet flat on the floor.

—Michele Meyer

—usually hyphenated before a noun

Players start with four face-up cards …

—Laura McQuarrie

face up

2 of 2

verb

faced up; facing up; faces up

intransitive verb

: to confront or deal directly with someone or something previously avoided

—usually used with to

faced up to my fears

Examples of face up in a Sentence

Adjective or adverb

The cards were dealt faceup.

Recent Examples on the Web

Adjective or adverb

And a pig like me would have picked Bing’s face up off the dirt, rinsed it in cold water from his canteen, and felt the skin flex in the palm of his hand. — Will MacKin, New Yorker, 28 June 2026

If convicted of second-degree murder, the parents could each face up to life in prison under Michigan law, according to KXAN reporting. — Anthony Thompson, USA Today, 27 June 2026

Verb

Last week, Jeffrey Ying, who faced up to 10 years in federal prison, was sentenced on one count of major artwork theft to time served – just under a year – and a year of home confinement plus three years of supervised release. — Marc Ramirez, USA Today, 15 July 2026

Dembele passes into that gap, with Mbappe now faced up against Viktor Gyokeres, a player better known for his work in the other box. — Anantaajith Raghuraman, New York Times, 14 July 2026

Word History

First Known Use

Adjective Or Adverb

1809, in the meaning defined above

Verb

1888, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for face up

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

Kids Definition

faceup

adverb

face·​up ˈfā-ˈsəp 

: with the face up

the card fell faceup