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Glite Dictionary
🚶 To approach 📏 To match standards
to come up to

to come up to

8 3.7
To reach the level needed
  • phrasal verb
translation icon : cumplir con
  • I'm just trying to come up to your expectations of me.
  • come up to standards
  • come up to the level
  • come up to expectations

And there's a moment when whatever has been buried for years, often decades, is coming up to the surface.

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Examples

  • Make the web pages that should be made, and watch everyone else come up to that level.

    Blog text (24)

  • Do I come up to your expectations?

    Jabberwocky (1977)

  • And they never come up to the standard.

    In the Bedroom (2001)

  • I am sorry if it doesn't quite come up to your standard.

    The House Across the Bay (1940)

  • Her husband had wanted to be a fighter pilot but had not come up to the mark when he left Colorado Springs, the Academy.

    Fiction book (1996)

  • He failed to come up to scratch.

    Ruby (1992)

  • It won't be your fault, mother, if I don't come up to scratch.

    Strange Interlude (1932)

  • Small and slender, Reiko barely came up to Sano's shoulder.

    Fiction book (2000)

  • She worked hard to come up to her teacher's expectations on the final exam.

  • After a lot of training, he was finally able to come up to the required fitness level for the marathon.

Synonyms

to live up to
vsto come up to
224 3.5

To meet what people expect of you

is about reaching or equalling a level rather than active personal performance
to measure up
vsto come up to
  • Informal
39 3.7

To be as good as expected or needed

is about actively reaching or equalling a required level rather than just existing quality
to measure up to
vsto come up to
17 3.8

To be good enough to meet a standard or expectation

focuses on meeting a needed standard generally rather than a single named level
to come through with
vsto come up to
  • Informal
12 3.8

To give what was promised or expected

is about reaching or satisfying a required standard rather than supplying promised things
to come up with the goods
vsto come up to
  • Informal
1 3.7

To do what is expected and give the results needed

focuses on meeting a level or standard rather than producing promised items

Antonyms

to disappoint
492 1.0

Fail to do what someone hoped for

to fall short
64 3.9

Fail to reach the level people expect

How Good

to exceed
255 4.1
to satisfy
243 2.8
to come up to
8 3.7
to fall short
64 3.9

Surface Forms

come up to infinitive
coming up to present participle
comes up to third person singular
came up to past
come up to past participle

Morphology

come + up + to

The sense 'to reach or meet a required standard' is built from 'come' (arrive/approach) + 'up' (movement toward/completion) + 'to' (toward a target), so learners can often infer a meaning of 'approach/reach' the target. However, the leap from physical approaching to the abstract idea of 'satisfying expectations' is a metaphorical extension that may not be fully predictable for a B1 learner without prior exposure, making it only partially transparent.

Etymology

Come up to also uses the image of something rising until it reaches a mark or level, like water coming up to a line; the verb come and up show movement toward that point. So, it means 'to reach' or 'to meet' a required standard.