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Glite Dictionary
to up and decide

to up and decide

1 7.8
To suddenly choose to do something without planning
  • phrasal verb
  • Informal
translation icon : decidir de repente
  • Few, if any, states are so overwhelmingly to the right or left that they can just up and decide to leave the union.
  • just up and decide

Examples

  • The military didn't just up and decide to launch a few worthless missiles at empty camps.

    Blog text (30)

  • At least the dev wised up and decided to just sell the engine instead.

    Blog text (18)

  • And so in some ways it was less about us going up and deciding whether to sell or not.

  • I keep hoping and praying that he will one day wake up and decide to stop living this type of life.

    Blog text (26)

  • You don't really know how much you can do until you... ...stand up and decide to try.

    Dave (1993)

  • Now, what are my men gonna think when their admiral up and decides he needs a vacation?

    Midway (2019)

  • Finally, I just gave up and decided to watch the Atlanta Braves play the New York Yankees in the World Series.

    Fiction book (2000)

  • So because you can't just up and decide you're going to open it one day for giggles, the local you know store is unlikely to carry all that stuff.

  • Once upon a time, there was this guy who one day up and decided he wanted to be a filmmaker; he wanted to portray authentic, "real" ghetto life, which was noticeably absent from the silver screen.

    Academic text (1995)

  • One day, she just woke up and decided to change her life completely.

Synonyms

to make the call
vsto up and decide
98 3.7

To decide what to do in an important situation

is a sudden action made without warning or prior planning
to pull the trigger
vsto up and decide
  • Informal
96 4.9

Decide to do something after thinking about it for a while

happens suddenly without hesitation or prior warning
to take a leap
vsto up and decide
11 5.7

Make a brave decision even when it feels risky

occurs suddenly and without planning not necessarily risky

Antonyms

to plan
∞ 1.0

To decide and arrange in advance how to do something

to deliberate
43 4.4

To think about something very carefully before deciding

How Sudden

to up and decide
  • Informal
1 7.8
to decide
∞ 1.0
to consider
∞ 1.1

Surface Forms

up and decide infinitive
up and decided past
up and decided past participle
up and deciding present participle
ups and decides third person singular

Morphology

up + and + decide

The pattern 'up and + verb' is an informal idiom meaning to do something abruptly or unexpectedly; this specific pragmatic sense is not directly derivable from the literal meanings of 'up', 'and' and 'decide'. Although 'up' can hint at initiation or movement and thus gives a partial clue, the abruptive/idiomatic force of 'up and decide' is conventionalized and typically requires prior exposure, so a B1 learner knowing the constituent words would not reliably infer the meaning.

Etymology

Up and decide may come from the simple image of someone suddenly getting up from a chair and choosing to decide on something right away. That's why it means 'to suddenly or unexpectedly make a decision or take action'.