TAKE UP Synonyms: 101 Similar and Opposite Words

take up

verb

Definition of take up

as in to lift

to move from a lower to a higher place or position please take up the blanket so I can look underneath it

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

as in to drink

to take in (something liquid) through small openings the soil was so dry that the plant seemed to take up the much-needed water instantly

Synonyms & Similar Words

as in to borrow

to take for one's own use (something originated by another) one cluster of fans started chanting the team name of the champions, and the crowd quickly took up the cry

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

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.

Recent Examples of take up As businesses expand, manual operations become more costly and take up important employee time. — Lyssanoel Frater, USA Today, 3 Sep. 2026 Engineers at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) are developing a new type of heatsink that could help electronics manage short bursts of intense heat while taking up significantly less space and weight. — Kaif Shaikh, Interesting Engineering, 3 Sep. 2026 The words took up only a foot and made the rest of the wall seem empty. — Akhil Sharma, New Yorker, 3 Sep. 2026 But Poppe said the effort isn’t necessarily dead and the legislature could also return for a special session to take up the issue. — Alexa Lomonaco, CNBC, 2 Sep. 2026 See All Example Sentences for take up

Recent Examples of Synonyms for take up

Verb

Marlins starter Eury Perez (7-11) was lifted after allowing a season-high 7 runs -- 5 earned -- and 10 hits over 4 innings.

— Arkansas Online, Arkansas Online, 8 Sep. 2026
Competitors had to lift them onto podiums at different heights in the quickest time possible.

— Rob Tanner, New York Times, 8 Sep. 2026

Definition of lift

Verb

My hope is that with so much talk about affordability and economic growth, a voter or two would raise a hand and ask about price controls and credit-card caps.

— Arkansas Online, Arkansas Online, 9 Sep. 2026
The injury was raised again during a frantic final 24 hours of the transfer window when Crystal Palace emerged as rival suitors for Fofana.

— Michael Walker, New York Times, 9 Sep. 2026

Definition of raise

Verb

Curtailment risk in India refers to a situation when renewable power plants are forced to cut their generation to meet the electrical grid’s capacity to safely absorb or transmit power.

— Priyanka Salve, CNBC, 10 Sep. 2026
This design effectively absorbs violent shockwaves that would otherwise shatter conventional armor.

— Mrigakshi Dixit, Interesting Engineering, 9 Sep. 2026

Definition of absorb

Verb

So many visitors get suckered into pasting and running the command that just about every malware pusher has adopted the technique.

— Dan Goodin, ArsTechnica, 11 Sep. 2026
Republicans have a president happy to adopt (or take credit for) populist ideas that his party used to blanche at – and candidates who would follow him for every beat.

— David Weigel, semafor.com, 11 Sep. 2026

Definition of adopt

Verb

Andrew Perloff and Paul Pabst assess the threat level for the teams in the AFC East, discussing how much Geno Smith elevates the Jets and how the Patriots' schedule affects their ceiling.

— Andrew Greif, NBC news, 10 Sep. 2026
Trump on Wednesday said energy prices that have been elevated due to the Iran war will not come down until after the midterm elections, which are due in November.

— Lim Hui Jie, CNBC, 10 Sep. 2026

Definition of elevate

Verb

High-profile athletes to embrace it include the Great Britain Olympic team, the New Zealand rugby team, and almost every cyclist in the professional peloton.

— Jacob Whitehead, New York Times, 8 Sep. 2026
The mayor expects the famous couple will be embraced by their neighbors.

— Pete Grathoff, Kansas City Star, 8 Sep. 2026