Word.ws English Dictionary

go up against

go up against verb: to challenge someone.

Verb

go up against (third-person singular simple present goes up against, present participle going up against, simple past went up against, past participle gone up against)

  1. To challenge someone.
    • May 27, 2007, Jamie Doward, The Observer.Jail head rejects shared cells plan.
      The Director-General of the Prison Service is ready to go up against ministers by resisting any government plan to force more prisoners to share cells.

Forms of go up against

third-person singular presentgoes up against
present participlegoing up against
pastwent up against
past participlegone up against

Questions about go up against

What does go up against mean?
Go up against means to challenge someone.
What part of speech is go up against?
Go up against is a verb.
What is the past tense of go up against?
The past tense of go up against is went up against.

Words near go up against in the dictionary

  1. go towards
  2. go tutti-frutti
  3. go under
  4. go underground
  5. go up
  6. go up against
  7. go up for
  8. go up in flames
  9. go up in smoke
  10. go up in the world
  11. go upstairs

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: go up against (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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