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
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Does your partner own up to their faults and try to make things right? Mark Travers, CNBC, 29 June 2025 Private equity funds may own up to five teams, and no single team may sell more than 30% of its equity to private funds. Matt Bok, Sportico.com, 21 June 2025 At the same time, the canny defense lawyer also made a point of mentioning that Combs isn’t charged with any of that and the government should own up to that. Dominic Patten, Deadline, 31 May 2025 Accepting the facts means owning up to the hard ones. Sammy Roth, Los Angeles Times, 5 June 2025 See All Example Sentences for own up

Word History

First Known Use

1844, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of own up was in 1844

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Cite this Entry

“Own up.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/own%20up. Accessed 18 Jul. 2025.

More from Merriam-Webster on own up

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
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