1
as in attributing
to explain (something) as being the result of something else
let's chalk up her weird behavior to simple nervousness
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
2
as in achieving
to obtain (as a goal) through effort
chalked up a record in singles tennis that is likely to stand for a long time
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of chalking up
His first taste of international cricket was a chastening experience, chalking up the worst bowling figures for an England ODI debutant with 0-76 off seven overs against South Africa at Headingley.
—
James Wallace, New York Times, 22 Sep. 2025
James Wallace, New York Times, 22 Sep. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for chalking up
Verb
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Some Republicans, including Senator Tim Scott, called for the post to be removed, though the White House’s initial framing treated the matter as a misunderstanding rather than intentional misconduct, later attributing it to a mistake by a staffer after initially defending it as a meme.—
Los Angeles Times,
Los Angeles Times,
6 Feb. 2026
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Public and private market investors have indiscriminately been attributing huge premiums to AI companies, and the party continues — the music is still playing and people are still dancing.—
Mikael Johnsson,
Fortune,
6 Feb. 2026
Verb
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High-resistivity wafers enter the high-level injection regime more readily than low-resistivity ones, a physical characteristic that underlies their superior intrinsic potential for achieving high fill factors.—
Bojan Stojkovski,
Interesting Engineering,
14 Feb. 2026
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Ramos-Rivera is achieving those dreams as the first student of his age to work a professional dance job, according to Smutek.—
Bridget Fogarty,
jsonline.com,
13 Feb. 2026
Verb
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The actress is cautious in ascribing too much power to her position.—
Jackson McHenry,
Vulture,
15 Dec. 2025
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Describing African resistance to slavery as a form of fugitive politics enables us, moreover, to confront accounts that, while acknowledging the reality of the resistance of the enslaved, end up depoliticizing it by ascribing it primarily to private emotions such as fear.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
5 Dec. 2025
Verb
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Working in Northwest Arkansas since 1990, Tom has been an award-winning reporter, a columnist and city editor and an editorial page editor.—
Arkansas Online,
Arkansas Online,
11 Feb. 2026
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Florida’s season took off from there and reached new heights, ending with a 12-game winning streak and the school’s third national championship.—
Edgar Thompson,
The Orlando Sentinel,
10 Feb. 2026
Verb
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Oakland’s leaders envision their town attaining similar big-city status.—
Shomik Mukherjee,
Mercury News,
10 Feb. 2026
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The monks practice and teach Vipassana meditation, an ancient Indian technique taught by the Buddha as core to attaining enlightenment.—
CBS News,
CBS News,
10 Feb. 2026
Verb
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So, Horse years in general are all about independence, with women gaining it in great strides.—
Annabel Gat,
Vogue,
14 Feb. 2026
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Other likely contenders in 2028 are gaining notoriety by holding the administration accountable in the present.—
Phillip M. Bailey,
USA Today,
14 Feb. 2026
Verb
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Rather than making a dispassionate case against the idea that the country was founded to enslave Africans, MAGA is taking down plaques commemorating basic facts, such as Washington’s slaveholding.—
Thomas Chatterton Williams,
The Atlantic,
13 Feb. 2026
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This week, a 51-year-old woman was sentenced to federal prison for making far-out and ultimately weightless accusations – that her former spouse had illegally accessed her bank account as an astronaut aboard the International Space Station in the summer of 2019.—
Marc Ramirez,
USA Today,
13 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Chalking up.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/chalking%20up. Accessed 15 Feb. 2026.
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