stack up

verb

stacked up; stacking up; stacks up

intransitive verb

1

: to add up

Cars were beginning to stack up behind the bus.

2

: to be in a particular state or situation

Here's how things stack up today.

3

: measure up, compare

—usually used with against

How does he stack up against the other job candidates?

Synonyms of stack up

• compare (with)
• measure up (to)

Examples of stack up in a Sentence

those newspapers have been stacking up in the basement since we moved here

Recent Examples on the Web

There’s a pile of mail waiting for him, stacked up to the height of multiple shoe boxes. — Alphonse Pierre, Pitchfork, 8 Oct. 2026

How each Breakthrough School stacked up The numbers vary by campus when looking at average attendance across the month and one-day attendance on specific days. — Lina Ruiz october 8, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 8 Oct. 2026

Matheson isn’t wrong about voters, who in the weeks before the festival have seen their inboxes stack up with invites to special events. — Alex Ritman, Variety, 6 Oct. 2026

Production Requirements Start To Accumulate The second sign is when production requirements begin to stack up. — Nada Usina, Forbes.com, 5 Oct. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1896, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for stack up

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

Kids Definition

stack up

verb

: measure up sense 2, compare

see how you stack up against the champion