An explanation of the different meanings of the English phrasal verb 'go up', with lots of examples in context
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Hello and welcome to my website for English learners all about phrasal verbs where I explain their different meanings to help you understand, learn and use them.
The phrasal verb that I will be covering in this post is 'go up', which has a surprising number of common uses and meanings, including fires, explosions, construction and travel. In this post, I will explain each of the different applications of 'go up' in the English language and provide you with lots of examples in context for each one, allowing you to impress all of your English-speaking friends and colleagues! So, without further ado, let's make a start.
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GO UP: KEY INFORMATION
Usage | Common |
Number of meanings | 7 |
Past tense forms | Went up / Gone up |
Separable? | No |
Photo: Pexels
Let's make a start by looking at the meanings of the individual words 'go' and 'up' and what they mean on their own.
The verb 'to go' is an essential English verb that is one of the most commonly used in the entire language and so it will need very little explanation from me. It's primary meaning is 'to move from one place to another' but it is also used to mean 'to leave', 'to become' and 'to function', as well as being used to form the 'going to' future tense. 'To go' is an irregular verb in English with a highly irregular past tense form (went) that I always find extremely strange even as a native speaker (why not goed?!).
I am going to Manchester to see my Aunt tomorrow.
She has gone to the shop to buy some bread.
We went to Spain for a holiday last year.
I am going home now as I am tired.
John will go crazy if he finds out what has happened.
I am going to be rich when I am older.
Next, we have the prepositional particle 'up', which is a very common feature in phrasal verb constructions. Aside from denoting a movement in an upwards direction or to a higher place, 'up' can add various ideas and nuances to phrasal verb constructions, such as increase (go up), completion (use up), preparation (set up) and termination (break up).
So, now that we have covered the basics, let's dive in to the different meanings of the phrasal verb 'go up'....
MEANING 1: To move higher
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CEFR Language Level | A1 - Beginner |
Usage | Common |
Where is it used? | Everywhere |
Potential synonyms | To climb, to climb up, to ascend, to rise, to scale, |
Potential antonyms | To go down, to descend, to climb down, |
We are going to start the phrasal verb meanings with a nice and easy one as it is just the combination of the literal meanings of the words 'go' and 'up' that I outlined in the previous section, giving us the meaning of 'to move to a higher place'.
Words commonly used with this meaning....
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This first application of 'go up' is normally used in reference to physical movement of both people and objects which move to a higher position. Furthermore, it can also be used to describe things like roads and paths which follow a trajectory that goes in an upwards direction and become higher in elevation. You should note that we can also use 'go up' as a synonym of 'to climb' or 'to ascend'.
Jack and Jill went up the hill to fetch a pail of water.
Lucy has gone upstairs to her bedroom.
Matthew went up the escalator as I was going down on the other side.
The lorry tried to go up the slope but it was too steep.
The cycle route goes up the hill and back down the other side.
There are a couple of more specific uses of this application of 'go up' that I also want to make you aware of....
The first is in relation to the curtain in the theatre at the front of the stage. Any theatregoers among you will know that when this curtain goes up, it marks the beginning of the show or performance and so consequently, we now talk about "the curtain going up" in reference to the moment when a show starts.
When the curtain goes up in the Grand Theatre, the audience is immediately transported to the 18th Century as the show begins.
Secondly, any fans of football (soccer) may already know this, but when a sports team finishes the season as one of the top teams in their league or division, they get promoted to the league or division above and we typically refer to this promotion as 'going up'.
Aston Villa have finished the season top of the league and are therefore going up to the Premier League next season.
MEANING 2: To increase
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CEFR Language Level | A2 - Elementary |
Usage | Common |
Where is it used? | Everywhere |
Potential synonyms | To rise, to grow, to intensify, to gain, to surge |
Potential antonyms | To go own, to drop, to decrease |
Following on from the idea of an upwards movement that we have just looked at, this second meaning of 'go up' should be a nice and easy progression as it simply means 'to increase'.
Whilst in the previous section we talked about things physically moving to a higher place, with this application of 'go up', we are instead thinking more about numbers, levels and amounts becoming higher. Essentially, this can be used to talk about anything that can be measured or recorded in numerical form and therefore plotted on a graph, including prices, temperatures, population, bills and wages.
The price of oil has gone up every year for the past 10 years.
After the big rainstorm last night, the water level in the river has gone up dramatically.
My rating on this app has gone up in the last week.
Do you think that wages will go up in line with inflation this year?
It's freezing cold today but according to the weather forecast, the temperature is going to go up tomorrow.
If we want to quantify how much something has increased over a period of time with a percentage, we can use the sentence "to go up by X%". This is typically with the present perfect tense (Sorry, I know lots of you hate it!)
The price of gas has gone up by 5% since the beginning of the year.
Interest rates went up by 15% between the years 2021 and 2023.
Since the pandemic, petrol prices have increased by 10% from 190p per litre to 209p.
MEANING 3: To be built
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CEFR Language Level | B2 - Upper intermediate |
Usage | Medium |
Where is it used? | Everywhere |
Potential synonyms | To be built, to appear |
Potential antonyms | to be demolished, to be knocked down |
The third meaning of 'go up' that we will cover in this post is 'to be built' and refers specifically to buildings and structures.
I think that this is a fairly straightforward meaning as when the majority of buildings and structures are constructed, they go in an upwards direction from their foundations towards the sky. In addition to buildings, you are likely to hear this application being used to refer to structures like tents (particularly large or semi-permanent ones), scaffolding and billboards.
You should note that we use 'go up' when the focus of the sentence is solely on the emergence of the buildings and not who is building them.
A new skyscraper is going up in the city centre, reshaping the skyline.
Luxury apartments are going up on the site where the old factory used to stand.
A large tent went up in the park for the weekend music festival.
As the scaffolding went up, the restoration of the historic church began in earnest.
Several new apartment complexes have gone up in the neighbourhood over the past year.
A large shopping mall has gone up where the old warehouse used to be.
Aside from buildings and structures, we can also use 'go up' when talking about things like signs and posters that are fixed into a position, normally in a public place. Again, with this we are not concerned with who placed them there, just that they have appeared and are now visible. When we want to refer to the person or people responsible for this, we use the phrasal verb 'put up', (link here) instead.
Posters about the missing little girl have gone up all over the city.
A sign went up on highway last week advising of speed cameras.
MEANING 4: To catch fire or explode
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CEFR Language Level | B2 - Upper intermediate |
Usage | Medium |
Where is it used? | Everywhere |
Potential synonyms | To catch fire, to explode, to ignite |
The fourth meaning of 'go up' that I have for you is a dramatic one as it means 'to catch fire' or, in extreme situations, 'to explode'.
When referring to fires, 'go up' is usually used to refer to the object or thing that catches fire, in particular when the fire starts very suddenly or has a great intensity. As this is also the nature of explosions, it functions perfectly to describe these too.
When used in a past tense form, 'went up' can be used to talk about the aftermath of a fire or explosion, typically to say that the unfortunate building or thing was destroyed by it. For this application, it is common to add the words 'in flames' or 'in smoke' to describe this.
There is smoke coming out of the kitchen. Call the fire brigade and let's get out of here in case the whole building goes up.
The old barn went up in smoke within minutes due to the dry wood.
When the oven malfunctioned, the kitchen almost went up in flames.
Everyone watched in horror as the building went up in flames during the fire.
IDIOM ALERT
I mentioned above the expressions 'to go up in flames' and 'to go up in smoke' to describe when something is damaged beyond repair by fire. However, you should know that both of these expressions can also be used in an idiomatic sense to describe when something totally fails or is completely wasted or destroyed, regardless of whether or not fire was involved. In other words, an epic fail of any sort.
When my business failed, all of my hard work over the last 5 years went up in smoke!
On the day I failed my driving test, all of my dreams to become a racing car driver went up in flames.
MEANING 5: To reach a certain point
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CEFR Language Level | B2 - Upper intermediate |
Usage | Common |
Where is it used? | Everywhere |
Potential synonyms | To reach, to lead (up) to, |
The fifth meaning of 'go up' is a common one that means to reach a certain point. For this one, we require the additional preposition 'to', giving us the construction 'to go up to...'
This application is used in a variety of ways and can be split into two broad categories: physical and temporal (time).
If we first take this in the physical sense, we are thinking about things like paths and roads that lead to specific points. For example, if you have a path in your garden that leads to your front door, you could describe it as "the path that goes up to your front door" as your front door is the end point that the path reaches. Likewise, if you think about a tower, you could say that the main staircase only goes up to the 10th floor and does not go up to the top.
I walked along the path that goes up to the beach.
This road goes all the way up to the border.
If we now think about this in a temporal sense, we are concerned with a point in the past or future that something dates back to or will reach. This could be a point in time where historical records end, a point in the past where you can no longer find data about something or a point in the future for where future plans are currently scheduled.
This list of number one songs only goes up to the year 2000, so I've no idea what was number one after that.
The government's current spending plan goes up to the year 2027.
The diary entries go up to 31st October and stop after that.
MEANING 6: To approach someone or something
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CEFR Language Level | C1 - Advanced |
Usage | Common - informal |
Where is it use? | British English |
Potential synonyms | To approach, to accost |
The sixth meaning of 'go up' is an informal one that I hear a lot in spoken British English and means 'to approach someone or something'.
This is typically when someone walks or runs over to their desired destination on foot. I would say that this is used most in relation to approaching a person or group of people to ask them something or to speak to them, however you will also hear it in reference to a specific place, typically when the place is at the front of something like a room or church.
It is useful to remember that 'go up' is used by the person approaching. If you are the person who is being approached by the other person, you would use 'come up' to describe this.
I went up to the beautiful girl in the bar and asked her out on a date.
Go up to that group of people and ask them if they will take a picture of us.
Suzanne went up to the front of the church and gave a speech.
Joe went up to Adam and punched him on the nose.
MEANING 7: To travel to a more northerly place
Photo: Pexels
CEFR Language Level | C1 - Advanced |
Usage | Medium |
Where is it used? | Everywhere |
Potential synonyms | To travel, to go, to head, to visit |
We are going to end the meanings with another informal meaning of 'go up', which is to travel from your current location to a different place. This is typically one that is further north than where the speaker is at the time of speaking.
Normally, we use this particular application in reference to going somewhere for an overnight stay or for a few days, like a weekend. Typically, this is somewhere further north in relation to where the speaker is, for example if you are in England then you would go up to Scotland or if you are in Los Angeles, then you would go up to San Francisco.
Of course, not everyone is an expert at geography, so this is not always 100% accurate but often people do have a general idea of what is north and therefore use 'up' when describing this. For reference, the opposite phrasal verb 'go down' is used when referring to a southward journey.
One other time that you may hear this is when someone is travelling from a small town or village to a large one, regardless of whether or not it is further north.
We are going up to Edinburgh for a few days next week.
My Dad has gone up to Sydney for a few days.
We like to go up to London every so often to watch a theatre show.
The next time you go up to Yorkshire, can you please take me with you.
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BONUS: TO GO UP AGAINST
Let's finish off with a bonus meaning which incorporates another preposition: 'against'. The phrasal verb expression 'to go up against someone or something' means to enter into competition with someone or something. In other words, to
As you can probably guess, this is one that is often used in the world of sport when someone talks about facing a particular competitor or team.
Liverpool FC will go up against Arsenal this afternoon.
The winner of this darts match will determine who you will be going up against in the final.
Furthermore, as this is all to do with competitions and opponents, this can also include the world of politics and can also, less commonly, include any hard obstacles that oppose us doing what we want to do. It could also be used in reference to situations when someone confronts or enters into conflict with someone else.
Kamala Harris went up against Donald Trump in the 2024 US election.
If you oppose this, you will be going up against the board of directors and they will not make things easy for you.
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THE END
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