own up

verb

owned up; owning up; owns up

intransitive verb

: to admit to being responsible for something

denied having broken the window, but later owned up

—usually used with to

They owned up to having broken the window.

Examples of own up in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Judge Subramanian claimed Diddy's violence within his personal relationships, that Combs owned up to, was a contributing factor to his reasoning for keeping the rapper behind bars. —Lauryn Overhultz , Larry Fink, FOXNews.com, 8 July 2025

It’s been a lot of ups and downs, but a lot of learning lessons in between those, and just being able to become a man, owning up to my mistakes and just be able to flush it and keep moving on. —Doug Padilla, Oc Register, 27 June 2025

Contestants are on their own up until the live rounds (or the Top 14), then production steps in with a styling team, per Mays. —Emily Weaver, People.com, 19 May 2025

Does your partner own up to their faults and try to make things right? —Mark Travers, CNBC, 29 June 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1844, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for own up

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