high up
48
2.3
- adverb
- The eagle soared high up in the sky, searching for its prey.
- high up in the mountains
- high up on the pyramid
- high up on the wall
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Watch on YouTubeWhat's your sense of how high up that went at Nike?
- What's your sense of how high up that went at Nike?
- And that distance is farther the higher up you are in the ship.
- Why have I blended this so high up into my eyebrow?
- Lo and behold, it sees this beautiful, majestic thing flying high up in the sky.
- If you look at Maslow's hierarchy, what we're talking about is like way high up the pyramid, right?
Examples
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The balloon floated high up, eventually disappearing from sight.
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By now, the sun was high up, and the vast grassy plain seemed nine parts sky.
Fiction book (1996) -
And it's going to be really high up, OK?
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So what I want to do is apply it quite high up like that.
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So just if this is too high up for you, then just go a little bit lower.
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Show how high up we are.
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Look how high up they are.
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We'll put it high up so people can see it for miles around.
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Coming down makes you realize how high up you usually are.
Fiction book (1990) -
I've just never been this high up before.
Synonyms
35
3.2
At or towards a place above something
22
5.0
High above the ground or in the air
11
4.5
To be blown very high into the sky by an explosion
Antonyms
How High
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'at a great height' is directly and compositionally derived from 'high' (far above the ground) combined with 'up' (toward a higher place); there is no idiomatic shift. This literal spatial composition follows common English particle/adverb patterns and has clear parallels in many languages, so a B1 learner who knows both words will understand it.
Etymology
The phrase high up gives a simple picture of something very high and up, like a bird's nest on a cliff or a window on the top of a tall building. That's why it means 'at a great height'.