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

Here’s a look at how each of them stack up, and which ones could be busting brackets come Selection Sunday. —Kels Dayton, Hartford Courant, 2 Mar. 2026

Savers can easily stack up their interest earnings by opening a high-rate CD account this March. —Matt Richardson, CBS News, 2 Mar. 2026

Normally the level ticks upward in spring, but the effect is likely to be muted this year unless storms start stacking up in the mountains. —Brandon Loomis, AZCentral.com, 28 Feb. 2026

Here's how FourLeaf Credit Union stacks up to two of our top picks for mortgage providers. —Kelsey Neubauer, CNBC, 28 Feb. 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