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

On what makes this team A team that shows up every day with the correct mentality, works really hard, doesn’t make excuses, owns up to mistakes and continues to get better. —Michael Nowels, Mercury News, 12 Jan. 2026

In parenting, those repairs can strengthen the parent-child bond and give your child a model for how to own up to their own mistakes, said Kennedy. —Tom Huddleston Jr., CNBC, 7 Jan. 2026

Individual funds can only own up to 20% of a single franchise. —Scott Soshnick, Sportico.com, 17 Dec. 2025

Amid the heartbreak and some frustration, Carroll head coach Riley Dodge congratulated DeSoto, and the Dragons took the loss on the chin, owning up to their mistakes. —Charles Baggarly, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 16 Dec. 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