Meaning & use
cock it up
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Meaning
verbtransitive or intransitiveinformalBritish
To do something very badly or make a serious mistake, especially ruining a plan or task.
Grammar: Separable phrasal verb: with a pronoun, the object goes between 'cock' and 'up' (cock it up). With a noun, it can go before or after 'up' (cock up the deal / cock the deal up).
Patterns
- cock something up
- cock it up
- cock up something
He really cocked it up when he forgot to attach the file to the email.
The team cocked up the presentation by using the wrong slides.
I cocked up my chances of getting the job by arriving late to the interview.
Word forms
| third person singular | cocks it up |
|---|---|
| past tense | cocked it up |
| past participle | cocked it up |
| -ing form | cocking it up |
Common combinations
- cock up the whole thing
- She managed to cock up the whole thing by sending the wrong invitations.
- really cock it up
- I really cocked it up this time; the client is furious.
- cock up an opportunity
- Don't cock up this opportunity; it might be your only chance.
- cock it up badly
- He cocked it up badly and had to apologize to everyone.
Synonyms and how they differ
- mess up
- More common in American English and slightly less rude than 'cock it up'.
- screw up
- Similar in meaning but used in both British and American English, still informal.
- bungle
- More formal and often used for careless mistakes in professional contexts.
- botch
- Often used for a badly done task, like 'botch a repair job'.
Opposites
Word family
- cock-up noun
- A mistake or mess, especially a badly organized situation.
Commonly confused: cock it up or cock up?
cock it up vs cock up
As a noun, 'cock-up' (with a hyphen) means a mistake or a mess, while the verb 'cock up' means to make that mistake.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'cock it up' correctly?
Choose one answer.
With a pronoun object like 'it', the pronoun must go between 'cock' and 'up': 'cock it up'. 'Cocked up it' is wrong word order. 'Cocked it up the project' is wrong because you cannot have both 'it' and 'the project'. 'Cocked up it' is also incorrect for the same reason as the first option.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “cock it up”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.