Word.ws English Dictionary

fall up

fall up verb: to benefit in the long run from what seems initially to be a setback.

Verb

fall up (third-person singular simple present falls up, present participle falling up, simple past fell up, past participle fallen up)

  1. To benefit in the long run from what seems initially to be a setback.
    • In fact, many of their winning mantras essentially describe the notion of falling up: "I've failed over and over again in my life," Jordan once said, "and that is why I succeed."2011, Shawn Achor, The Happiness Advantage
    • But with the gospel narrative, God provided a remedy whereby an imperfect creature can “fall up” to God's forgiveness2012, James W. Geiger, Christianity and the Outsider
  2. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see fall, up.
    • A balloon full of hydrogen "falls up" in obedience to the Law of Gravity2009, Randall Garrett, The Highest Treason
    • Not many people fall up the stairs, most accidents are on the way down!2013, Sharon Marks, TBI - Our Never Ending Journey

Forms of fall up

third-person singular presentfalls up
present participlefalling up
pastfell up
past participlefallen up

Questions about fall up

What does fall up mean?
Fall up means to benefit in the long run from what seems initially to be a setback.
What part of speech is fall up?
Fall up is a verb.
What is the past tense of fall up?
The past tense of fall up is fell up.

Words near fall up in the dictionary

  1. fall to pieces
  2. fall to someone's lot
  3. fall to the ground
  4. fall together
  5. fall under
  6. fall up
  7. fall upon
  8. fall upon someone's neck
  9. fall victim
  10. fall webworm
  11. fall webworms

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: fall up (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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