up for grabs
42
3.6
- idiom
- I hear the cultural editor's job is up for grabs.
Loading YouTube…
Watch on YouTubeBut if he said next week, I would say, OK, Sunday's up for grabs in that statement.
- But if he said next week, I would say, OK, Sunday's up for grabs in that statement.
- Why not take those two points that are just up for grabs?
- This is a time when power, culture and gender are up for grabs.
- Plus don't forget about Golf Spilt major this weekend taking place in Florida where DraftKings will have even more money up for grabs.
- And that was partly what was up for grabs in that encounter.
- And so I think it is very much up for grabs in that sense.
- But that's up for grabs and up for people to play with.
- Yeah, but that doesn't mean that it becomes, let's say up for grabs, right.
- We are in a perfect storm where so many absolutes are now up for grabs.
- And mediated information is up for grabs today.
- You can get very rich as a nation and as a society, but it's also up for grabs.
- Every, not just action, but everything that we say about our actions, everything that we do performatively is, you might say, up for grabs.
Examples
-
And there's a bonus point up for grabs in every round for the person who can name at least one other character from the franchise in question.
-
The championship title is still up for grabs since no team has secured it yet.
-
There are two points up for grabs in this question.
-
And so I think it is very much up for grabs in that sense.
-
Look, I mean, this city is up for grabs, always has been.
-
The whole place is up for grabs.
-
Everything is up for grabs.
-
The advertising account will be up for grabs.
-
The championship is definitely up for grabs this year since not one team is the favorite!
Blog text (29) -
We've got 2 pairs of tickets up for grabs for a few lucky readers out there.
Blog text (21)
Synonyms
∞
2.3
Able to be used or bought and not in use now
24
4.1
Offered for sale, often at a public auction
17
3.7
Something the owner has not taken
Antonyms
How Available
Surface Forms
Morphology
The sense 'available to be taken' is directly inferable from the constituents: 'for' + 'grabs' suggests something is 'for grabbing' (i.e., able to be seized) and the prefixed 'up' is a common colloquial marker in phrases like 'up for' meaning available or open. This is a productive, partly metaphorical but transparent image (something can be grabbed), so a B1 learner who knows 'up', 'for', and 'grab' can reasonably deduce the MWE meaning.
Etymology
The expression up for grabs may come from old markets. Sellers would put goods up on a table and people could grab them quickly, so today the phrase means 'available to be taken or won by anyone'.