Meaning & use
measuring up
Last updated
“measuring up” is a form of “measure up”.
Meanings
verbphrasal verb
Reaching the standard needed or expected, or being as good as someone or something else.
Grammar: No object; often followed by to: she is measuring up to the task.
Patterns
- measure up to something
- measure up to someone
The new player is measuring up well to the team's standards.
He worried he wasn't measuring up to his sister's success.
The hotel was not measuring up to what the brochure promised.
verbphrasal verb
Taking measurements of a space or object, usually before building, fitting or buying something.
Grammar: Can take an object or work without one: measuring up the room.
Patterns
- measure something up
- measure up for something
They are measuring up the kitchen for new cabinets.
The tailor is measuring him up for a suit.
I'm measuring up the wall before we buy paint.
Word forms
| base form | measure up |
|---|---|
| third person singular | measures up |
| past tense | measured up |
Common combinations
- measure up to expectations
- The product failed to measure up to expectations.
- measure up well
- The candidate measures up well against the others.
- measure up the room
- We measured up the room before buying the sofa.
- not measure up
- The meal did not measure up.
- measure up against
- How does our service measure up against the competition?
Synonyms and how they differ
- live up to
- Live up to focuses on matching a promise or reputation, while measure up compares with a standard.
- come up to
- Come up to is a slightly less common way of saying reach a required standard.
- match
- Match says things are equal, but measure up also implies passing a test of quality.
- size up
- Size up means to judge a person or situation, not to take measurements, so it only partly overlaps.
Opposites
Word family
- measure verb
- to find the size or amount of something
- measurement noun
- a size or amount found by measuring
- measured adjective
- careful and controlled
Commonly confused: measuring up or measure out?
measuring up vs measure out
Measure out means to take a specific amount of something, such as flour, rather than to reach a standard.
Practice
She was afraid she would not be ___ to the high standards of the school.
Choose one answer.
Measuring up to a standard means reaching the needed level. The other options are not natural phrasal verbs for this meaning.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “measuring up”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.