up to

preposition

1

—used as a function word to indicate extension as far as a specified place

sank up to his knees in the mud

2

—used as a function word to indicate a limit or boundary

up to 50,000 copies a month

worked up to the last minute

Examples of up to in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The undrafted rookie has impressed head coach Kevin O'Connell and his staff ever since the team added him in late spring, working his way up to second-string amid several injuries, trades and cuts along the way. —Max Dible, MSNBC Newsweek, 29 Nov. 2025

Floods were also occurring elsewhere in the vast archipelago, including in Aceh and West Sumatra, where thousands of houses were flooded, many up to roofs, the disaster agency said. —Arkansas Online, 28 Nov. 2025

With the robot capable of planting up to 200 saplings per hour, Trovador also uploads GPS coordinates, soil data, and battery information to the cloud, enabling remote monitoring. —Kaif Shaikh, Interesting Engineering, 28 Nov. 2025

Products from Oprah’s Favorite Things across home, beauty, and fashion are on sale for Black Friday with savings up to 81 percent at Amazon, Spanx, Wayfair, Target, and more. —Toni Sutton, PEOPLE, 28 Nov. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

before the 12th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for up to

• accrue
• ado
• ainu
• aircrew
• airscrew
• anew
• askew
• baboo
• babu
• bamboo
• beaucoup
• bijou

Kids Definition

up to

preposition

1

: as far as a named part or place

sank up to my hips

2

: in accordance with

the game was not up to our standards

3

a

: to the limit of

come in sizes up to 10

b

: as many or as much as

carry up to 10 tons

4

: until entry 1, till

from dawn up to dusk