TAKES UP Synonyms: 101 Similar and Opposite Words

takes up

verb

present tense third-person singular of take up

as in lifts

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 drinks

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 borrows

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

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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 takes up The treadmill relaunch, Peloton said, is also addressing the company's long-standing challenge getting consumers to buy high-cost equipment that takes up a lot of space. — Brandon Gomez, CNBC, 22 Sep. 2026 Peloton is bulking up its treadmill lineup with three new machines, including a foldable model that takes up less floor space and won't hurt your wallet as much as the others. — Bee Wertheimer, PC Magazine, 22 Sep. 2026 The glass-door entrance opens onto a great room that takes up most of the available space. — New Atlas, 16 Sep. 2026 Vedder was revising lyrics, and also trying to get the vocal takes up to his standards, which were already quite high. — Brian Hiatt, Rolling Stone, 27 Aug. 2026 As the oceans absorb much of this excess heat, warmer seawater expands and takes up more space, while melting glaciers and ice sheets add even more water. — Denise Hruby, Miami Herald, 31 July 2026 Repairs, replacement parts and the physical space each piece takes up all factor into the true cost of ownership. — Samantha Agate, Sacbee.com, 9 July 2026 Hospital care takes up the biggest share of healthcare expenditures. — Joshua P. Cohen, Forbes.com, 2 July 2026 Limit Your Denim Denim takes up a surprising amount of room. — Lydia Mansel, Travel + Leisure, 13 June 2026

Recent Examples of Synonyms for takes up

Verb

When strands are dry or damaged, the cuticle lifts and starts pulling water from the air, which is why the same head of hair can look glossy in January and a halo of static by August.

— Valeriya Chupinina, Vogue, 22 Sep. 2026
Tuesday looks like the wettest day of the week as the front briefly lifts north, bringing widespread rain chances while temperatures remain stuck in the 60s.

— Andrew Kozak, CBS News, 21 Sep. 2026

Definition of lifts

Verb

In July, the OIG warned that the state's high-speed rail project could run out of money as soon as December 2027 unless the state borrows billions to keep construction on schedule.

— Carlos E. Castañeda, CBS News, 16 Sep. 2026
This visualizer borrows the format of the DROID Dataset Visualizer — many thanks for making the source code openly available.

— IEEE Spectrum, IEEE Spectrum, 10 Sep. 2026

Definition of borrows

Verb

Still, rising tensions over the self-governing island loom in the background, as the Iran war depletes the US’ weapons stockpile and Taiwan’s AI chip production raises the stakes for any potential conflict.

— Morgan Chalfant, semafor.com, 21 Sep. 2026
The idea that this could be a school-by-school system raises some red flags; for all its flaws, at least the exam was an across-the-board measure for all students.

— New York Daily News Editorial Board, New York Daily News, 20 Sep. 2026

Definition of raises

Verb

But Eliot also uses free indirect discourse, the technique in which an omniscient narrator adopts the perspective of an individual character, to inhabit Dorothea beyond her surface qualities.

— Sanjena Sathian, Vulture, 22 Sep. 2026
Success won’t be determined by who adopts AI the fastest or deploys post-quantum cryptography first.

— Evgeny Gervis, Forbes.com, 22 Sep. 2026

Definition of adopts

Verb

The impressive density of this overload, which embraces the possibilities of relatively new technology to find novel ways to deliver and compress context, diminishes as Carter is drawn to Japan by Izumi Adachi (Kiko Mizuhara).

— Vadim Rizov, Variety, 19 Sep. 2026
This highly entertaining but nonetheless gentle show never preaches, never takes itself too seriously and embraces everyone in its orbit, all qualities that tend to lead to success in the theater.

— Chris Jones, Chicago Tribune, 19 Sep. 2026