man up
/mæn ˈʌp/
man up verb: to be brave or tough enough to deal with something in a manner that is considered strong or manly. (Compare man (“brace oneself, steel oneself”)).
Verb
man up (third-person singular simple present mans up, present participle manning up, simple past and past participle manned up)
- To be brave or tough enough to deal with something in a manner that is considered strong or manly. (Compare man (“brace oneself, steel oneself”))
- I was wondering when he would man up and marry that girl he knocked up.
- You need to man up and confront your boss about her behavior.
- (Of personnel) to assemble, each person manning (attending to) his station, prepared for the departure of an aircraft, ship, etc. (Compare man (“supply with staff; take up position to operate”).)
- To staff adequately; to staff up; to successfully fill all needed labor positions. (Compare man (“supply with staff”).)
- To vigorously guard the opponent to whom one is assigned.
- They must be athletic enough to man up on a solid number two receiver and yet be physical enough to step into the line scrimmage and tackle a running back.2005, Allan Trimble, Coaching football successfully,, Human Kinetics, page 166
- He will man up on his opponent whenever his opponent has the ball.2005, Andrew McLeod, Trevor D. Jaques, Australian football: steps to success,, page 138
man up meaning in Tamil
man up in Tamil
- ஆண்மையுடன் செயல்படுதல், ஆணின் பாரம்பரிய பொறுப்பை நிறைவேற்றுதல், குடும்பத்திற்காக சம்பாதித்தல், வீரத்துடன் செயல்படுதல், துணிவுடன் பிரச்சினைகளை எதிர்கொள்ளுதல்
Examples of man up in a sentence
- Hey son, man up, okay? There will be time for tears later.
- Honestly mate, just MAN UP. […] Speaking of manning up, I wonder if the organisers managed to find any ladies to attend this 20 May party?2022 January 11, Marina Hyde, “Who’s really leading Britain – Boris Johnson or the crazy-face emoji?”, in The Guardian, archived from the...
- I had to "man up" on their rover, and every time I went for the ball he tried to hit me.2007 Blye Frank & Kevin G. Davison, Masculinities and schooling: international practices and perspectives, Althouse Press, page 141
Synonyms of man up
Forms of man up
| third-person singular present | mans up |
|---|---|
| present participle | manning up |
| past participle | manned up |
| past | manned up |
Origin of man up
From man + up, with influence from own up, buck up.
Questions about man up
- What does man up mean?
- Man up means to be brave or tough enough to deal with something in a manner that is considered strong or manly. (Compare man (“brace oneself, steel oneself”)).
- What is man up in Tamil?
- Man up in Tamil is ஆண்மையுடன் செயல்படுதல், ஆணின் பாரம்பரிய பொறுப்பை நிறைவேற்றுதல், குடும்பத்திற்காக சம்பாதித்தல். See Man up meaning in Tamil.
- How do you use man up in a sentence?
- Hey son, man up, okay? There will be time for tears later.
- What part of speech is man up?
- Man up is a verb.
- How do you pronounce man up?
- Man up is pronounced /mæn ˈʌp/.
- What is the past tense of man up?
- The past tense of man up is manned up.
Words near man up in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: man up (page history and authors); man up (Tamil Wiktionary) (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.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-man up.ogg.
Cite this entry: “man up.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/man_up. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.