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Glite Dictionary
🤔 Busy with something ✅ Good enough
up to

up to

241 2.8
Good enough to do something
  • idiom
  • /ʌp tu/
translation icon : estar a la altura
  • up to the task
  • up to the standard
  • up to speed

Are the big white videos not up to the same standards?

Examples

  • Ms. L described him as bright but often not living up to his potential.

    Academic text (2013)

  • Our practice, we know, is not up to our theory, but we get better each year.

    Academic text (1999)

  • The international system in its current form is simply not up to the task.

    Academic text (2008)

  • After that, it would be up to the individual to succeed or not.

    Academic text (2002)

  • Ultimately, it is up to the jury to determine the cost of this restoration.

    Academic text (2017)

  • He's not up to the challenge.

    Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989)

  • I shall endeavor to live up to all that he has said of me.

    Fiction book (1993)

  • That's entirely up to you.

    WWJD II: The Woodcarver (2012)

  • Only you have the skills necessary to complete this task; it's entirely up to you.

  • The final decision on what we will do is completely up to you to make.

Synonyms

capable
vsup to
945 1.4

Able to do something well because of skill or training

is about meeting overall qualities or standards for a purpose
eligible
vsup to
265 3.9

Able to be chosen or get something because you meet the rules

means having the needed qualities for a purpose, not selection rules
equal to
vsup to
69 2.8

Having the skill or strength to do a task

is the general state of meeting required qualities for a purpose
to measure up to
vsup to
17 3.8

To be good enough to meet a standard or expectation

focuses on possessing needed qualities rather than matching an external standard
to come up to
vsup to
8 3.7

To reach the level needed

describes having the necessary qualities rather than the action of meeting them
up to scratch
vsup to
2 5.0

Good enough to meet a required standard

is stronger, meaning fully has required qualities for a purpose

Antonyms

incompetent
141 4.9

Not able to do a job or task well

How Suitable

ideal
203 4.2
up to
241 2.8
adequate
234 2.7
unsuitable
20 2.6

Surface Forms

up to positive

Morphology

up + to

The meaning 'having the necessary qualities or ability' is not a direct compositional result of combining the literal senses of 'up' (movement/position) and the preposition 'to'; the phrase functions as a fixed predicative construction whose sense is partly metaphorical. There is a loose connection to 'up' implying readiness or adequacy (cf. 'up for'), but a B1 learner who only knows the individual words would likely need exposure to this idiomatic use, so it is intermediate in transparency.

Etymology

Up to meaning 'able or good enough' comes from the image of reaching up to a shelf or a marked level. If you can reach it, you meet that level, so someone 'up to' a task has the skill or strength needed.