stitched up

Meanings

1. 1verbphrasal verbBritishinformal

   Past tense and past participle of stitch up: tricked or unfairly blamed by other people for something you did not do.

   Grammar: Takes an object; often passive: he was stitched up.

   Patterns

   • stitch someone up
   • be stitched up by someone

   He claimed his colleagues had stitched him up to hide their own mistake.

   I felt stitched up when the others left me to pay the whole bill.

   The politician said he was stitched up by his rivals.

2. 2verbphrasal verb

   Closed a wound or mended cloth by sewing it together with thread.

   Grammar: Takes an object, which can come before or after up: stitched the cut up.

   Patterns

   • stitch something up
   • stitch up something

   The doctor stitched up the cut on his knee.

   She stitched up the torn sleeve in five minutes.

   The nurse quickly stitched up the wound.

Common combinations

feel stitched up

Many fans felt stitched up by the new ticket rules.

stitched up by colleagues

He was stitched up by colleagues who blamed him for the loss.

stitched up a wound

The doctor stitched up the wound with six stitches.

stitched up a deal

They stitched up a deal before anyone else could bid.

Synonyms and how they differ

framed

Framed means falsely made to look guilty of a crime, which is stronger than being stitched up.

cheated

Cheated means treated dishonestly, while stitched up often suggests a secret plan against you.

sewn up

Sewn up is the cloth sense and does not carry the idea of being tricked.

Opposites

Word family

stitch verb

to sew

stitch-up noun

a situation in which someone is unfairly tricked

stitching noun

the sewing on cloth

Commonly confused: stitched up or stitched in?

Practice

Make it your own

Write a sentence using “stitched up”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.

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