Meaning & use
stayed up
Last updated
Meaning
verbintransitive
Remained awake instead of going to bed at the usual time.
Grammar: No object; the phrase is already in the past tense, so 'She stayed up late' is complete without anything after it.
Patterns
- stay up late
- stay up until something
- stay up to do something
- stay up all night
My little brother was so excited about the trip that he stayed up late reading comic books.
We stayed up until two in the morning talking about old school friends.
She stayed up to finish her essay before the deadline.
Word forms
| base form | stay up |
|---|---|
| third person singular | stays up |
| present participle | staying up |
| past tense | stayed up |
| past participle | stayed up |
Common combinations
- stayed up late
- He stayed up late watching a film and was tired all morning.
- stayed up all night
- They stayed up all night because the baby would not sleep.
- stayed up until midnight
- We stayed up until midnight to see the new year come in.
- stayed up talking
- The two of them stayed up talking about their plans.
- stayed up to finish something
- I stayed up to finish the report for work.
Synonyms and how they differ
- remained awake
- This says only that you did not sleep; 'stayed up' usually suggests you chose to keep going instead of going to bed.
- sat up
- Very close in British use, often for waiting up for someone, but it can also mean simply changing your sitting position, so it is less clear.
Opposites
Word family
- stay up verb
- The base form of this phrasal verb.
- stay-up adjective
- Used before a noun, as in 'a stay-up night', meaning a night when you do not go to bed early.
- staying up noun
- The activity of not going to bed, as in 'Staying up late is bad for you.'
Commonly confused: stayed up or stood up?
stayed up vs stood up
'Stood up' means you rose to your feet, or that someone did not come to a date. 'Stayed up' is only about not going to bed.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'stayed up' correctly?
Choose one answer.
'Stayed up late' means she did not go to bed at her usual time. The other options use 'up' in different senses (position, climbing, paying), which are not the phrasal verb 'stay up'.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “stayed up”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.