Meaning & use
queue up
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Meanings
verbphrasal verb
To stand in a line of people, one behind the other, waiting for your turn.
Grammar: No object; often followed by to or for: queue up for tickets.
Patterns
- queue up for something
- queue up to do something
Fans began to queue up outside the stadium at dawn.
We had to queue up for an hour to get into the museum.
People queue up patiently at the bus stop every morning.
verbphrasal verbfigurative
To wait in order, one after another, for a service, a task or a chance, even when no physical line exists.
Grammar: No object; used figuratively for waiting your turn: offers queued up.
Patterns
- queue up to do something
- something queues up
Companies are queuing up to hire the young designer.
Orders have queued up while the system was down.
Planes queued up on the runway waiting for clearance.
Word forms
| third person singular | queues up |
|---|---|
| past tense | queued up |
| past participle | queued up |
| -ing form | queuing up |
Common combinations
- queue up for tickets
- Fans queued up for tickets all night.
- queue up outside
- Customers queue up outside the bakery every Sunday.
- queue up patiently
- The children queued up patiently for ice cream.
- queue up to buy
- Shoppers queue up to buy the new phone.
- queue up behind
- Please queue up behind the yellow line.
Synonyms and how they differ
- line up
- Line up is the usual American equivalent and also works for objects arranged in a row, which queue up does not.
- wait in line
- Wait in line stresses the waiting itself and is the standard American phrasing.
- form a queue
- Form a queue describes the group creating the line, while queue up describes each person joining it.
- stand in line
- Stand in line is American and focuses on the physical act of standing, unlike the more neutral queue up.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: queue up or cue?
queue up vs cue
Cue sounds the same as queue but means a signal to start something, as in an actor's cue.
Practice
Hundreds of people began to ___ outside the shop before it opened.
Choose one answer.
Queue up means to wait in a line. Cue up sounds the same but means to prepare something, such as a song.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “queue up”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.