one-upped; one-upping; one-ups
: to practice one-upmanship on
always trying to one-up each other by buying the latest gadgets
: being in a position of advantage
—usually used with on
He finished his assignment early, which put him one up on me.
Examples of one-up in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Alex Connor,
USA Today,
4 July 2026
Overall, this is a rather fascinating deal between division rivals attempting to one-up one another in the Atlantic.
—
James Mirtle,
New York Times,
1 July 2026
After signing a top-five class last cycle, Freeman and the Irish are looking to one-up their efforts, currently holding the silver medal spot in 2027.
—
Austin Perry Outkick,
FOXNews.com,
30 June 2026
Season one’s twist that Sugar is an alien recontextualized the entire series, and while there’s a couple cool twists in season two, the writers didn’t try to one-up themselves to that degree.
—
Brian Davids,
HollywoodReporter,
27 June 2026
See All Example Sentences for one-up
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Verb
And Vozinha, the goalkeeper who neutralized Spain, one-upped himself.
—
Alex Connor,
USA Today,
4 July 2026
Overall, this is a rather fascinating deal between division rivals attempting to one-up one another in the Atlantic.
—
James Mirtle,
New York Times,
1 July 2026
After signing a top-five class last cycle, Freeman and the Irish are looking to one-up their efforts, currently holding the silver medal spot in 2027.
—
Austin Perry Outkick,
FOXNews.com,
30 June 2026
Season one’s twist that Sugar is an alien recontextualized the entire series, and while there’s a couple cool twists in season two, the writers didn’t try to one-up themselves to that degree.
—
Brian Davids,
HollywoodReporter,
27 June 2026
See All Example Sentences for one-up
Cite this Entry
“One-up.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/one-up. Accessed 5 Jul. 2026.
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