to foul up
8
6.4
- phrasal verb
- /faʊl ʌp/
- Informal
:
meter la pata
- If you're not careful, you might foul up the entire project with a simple mistake.
- really fouled up
- get fouled up
- fouled up her life
Examples
-
"We fouled up," I said, "We just took it for granted that was 36 when we saw the coaches.
Fiction book (1999) -
- I heard someone say it would be a few minutes yet, because the snow has fouled up the schedule.
-
And is this going to foul up something else that might occur?
-
let's not foul this up.
-
You got it all fouled up!
-
If it please the court, our documents seem to be somewhat fouled up.
-
My mother has never gotten over the way luck and other people have fouled up her life.
Fiction book (2000) -
So scheduling got all fouled up by the time I came in from the hospital.
Fiction book (1992) -
Something got seriously fouled up in the formatting with the colors.
Blog text (26) -
The show magnifies every problem and fouls up many of the successes.
Synonyms
641
6.3
To make a mistake that ruins what you are doing
597
2.8
To make a mistake that causes a problem
295
3.0
To forget something by accident
265
5.3
To waste a lot of money on things you do not need
203
9.9
To make a serious mistake that ruins something
80
2.8
To make something less good or enjoyable
65
2.7
To make people confused and things messy
63
6.0
To do something badly and spoil the result
38
6.1
Fail to do something you are responsible for
37
9.9
To do something badly and ruin how it turns out
27
4.9
Make a mistake or cause someone else to make one
27
4.1
To make a small careless mistake
20
4.9
Deal with something badly so it causes problems or damage
19
3.5
To do something clumsily and make a mistake
18
5.4
To move in a clumsy, confused way
17
5.6
To make a silly or careless mistake
16
6.8
To do something clumsily so it causes mistakes
5
8.2
To fail to catch or handle something because you are clumsy
5
7.6
To ruin something by making mistakes or doing it badly
4
8.1
To make a mess of a plan or task by doing it badly
2
6.8
To make an embarrassing mistake because you are careless or nervous
2
5.4
To make a mistake especially by forgetting words on stage
2
6.7
Do a job badly and make a mess of it
1
4.2
Do something that is a serious and embarrassing mistake
1
7.9
To do something badly and ruin how it turns out
1
9.9
To do something so badly that it fails
1
7.4
To make a small mistake when trying to do something, for example in sport or speech
1
9.9
To ruin something by making a mistake or being careless
Do a job badly so it does not work
To spoil or ruin something by making a careless mistake
To ruin something by doing it badly
To make a serious, embarrassing mistake by being careless
To ruin something completely by making serious mistakes
To ruin something by a careless mistake
To do something badly and make it fail
To do something badly so it goes wrong
Antonyms
How Bad
∞
2.0
- Informal
8
6.4
- Informal
597
2.8
37
1.0
- Informal
27
4.1
Surface Forms
Morphology
foul + up
There is a transparent link between 'foul' (to make dirty/contaminate) and the idea of ruining or making a mess, while the particle 'up' commonly marks completion or a resultant state, so a learner could partially infer the sense 'mess up/ruin'. However, the specific extension to 'make a mistake' or 'botch' is somewhat idiomatic and not entirely predictable from the parts alone, so full comprehension without prior exposure is uncertain.
Etymology
Foul up comes from old sailors. When a rope got tangled they called it fouled, and a tangled rope could stop the whole job, so to foul up came to mean 'to make a mistake' or 'ruin something'.