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Glite Dictionary
🚶 To stand in order 📅 To arrange
to line up

to line up

397 2.6
Put people or things in a straight row
  • phrasal verb
  • /laɪn ʌp/
: alinear
  • Every morning, the children line up for the school bus at the end of the street.
  • people line up
  • kids line up
  • line up in rows

Please just come up and line up to ask your questions.

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Examples

  • Line up at the door.

    Kindergarten Cop (1990)

  • Please just come up and line up to ask your questions.

    Harvard University

  • If you could line up in that order up here on stage.

  • Patients usually line up for their medications after lunch.

    John, 316 (2021)

  • Line up in single file along the barriers.

    The End We Start From (2023)

  • Soldiers came scrambling out of their shelters to line up for morning roll call.

    Fiction book (1992)

  • Students were asked to line up quietly before entering the classroom.

  • After the concert, fans began to line up at the merchandise booth to buy souvenirs.

Synonyms

to lay out
vsto line up
126 3.1

To arrange items so they are ready and easy to see

is about forming people or things into orderly groupings, not display
to arrange
vsto line up
112 1.7

To put things or information in a clear, neat order

focuses specifically on creating neat, ordered groups of people or things
to align
vsto line up
60 3.5

To put things in a straight line or in the correct position

form people or things into neat groups rather than precise alignment
to queue
vsto line up
  • UK
19 3.4

To form or join a line while waiting

covers forming neat rows or groups without implying waiting
to queue up
vsto line up
  • UK
7 3.1

To wait in a line to buy something or enter a place

means creating neat order without the sense of waiting or queuing
to draw up
vsto line up
  • Jargon
3 4.1

To arrange people into a line or formation

is used more generally for making neat, simple groupings
to string out
vsto line up
2 4.2

To place things in a line along a path

groups items closely into tidy positions rather than spacing them
to range
vsto line up
2 1.9

To put things in a line or in order

puts people or things into neat groups rather than just ordering
to dress
vsto line up
  • Jargon
1 7.9

To arrange people or things in straight rows, often in the military

is less formal and used for ordinary neat grouping

Antonyms

to scatter
50 2.7

To make people or animals move quickly in different directions

to disorganize
  • US
1 4.5

To make something lose its order or structure

How Ordered

to file in
8 3.5
to line up
397 2.6
to queue
  • UK
19 3.4
to gather
∞ 1.0

Surface Forms

line up infinitive
lined up past
lined up past participle
lining up present participle
lines up third person singular

Morphology

line + up

The sense 'arrange for/obtain' is a metaphorical extension from the literal idea of putting items or people into a line (line) with 'up' adding a sense of arrangement or completion. Although the connection to arranging or securing something can be guessed by seeing the motion/ordering sense, the transitive usage (e.g., 'line up a meeting') is not fully predictable for a B1 learner without prior exposure, so it is only partially transparent.

Etymology

Line up comes from the clear picture of people forming a straight line and standing one behind another, with up adding the idea of making the row tight and ready. So line up means 'to form an orderly row'.