TOOK UP Synonyms: 103 Similar and Opposite Words

took up

verb

Definition of took up next

past tense of take up

as in lifted

to move from a lower to a higher place or position please take up the blanket so I can look underneath it

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

as in drank

to take in (something liquid) through small openings the soil was so dry that the plant seemed to take up the much-needed water instantly

Synonyms & Similar Words

as in borrowed

to take for one's own use (something originated by another) one cluster of fans started chanting the team name of the champions, and the crowd quickly took up the cry

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of took up Though the back-and-forth between council, city staff and developers took up much of the hearing, over a dozen citizens chimed in. —

Matthew Geiger, Denver Post, 1 May 2026 The officer — whose name has not been released — and his horse quickly took up the chase that was captured on his bodycam and also by a television news crew that happened to be in the area for an unrelated story. —

ABC News, 17 Apr. 2026 Hickey walks to support 7-year-old Lucy Dina Hickey took up an extra journey from Suffolk County's Wading River to Staten Island to support 7-year-old Lucy Dina. —

Jennifer Bisram, CBS News, 17 Apr. 2026 The court took up the issue at Wednesday’s hearing. —

Judy L. Thomas, Kansas City Star, 10 Apr. 2026 The girls started coming when the Neelemans took up farming in 2017. —

Brian Niemietz, New York Daily News, 6 Mar. 2026 The dogs took up the scent at once. —

Delbert L. Chears, Outdoor Life, 5 Mar. 2026 Martinez’s attorneys took up the battle to get evidence released in early January following the killing of Renee Good by a Border Patrol agent in Minneapolis under circumstances eerily similar to Martinez’s shooting. —

Jason Meisner, Chicago Tribune, 6 Feb. 2026 But FOToS took up the most oxygen last year; its author, a two-time winner here, certainly will earn his third. —

Craig Jenkins, Vulture, 30 Jan. 2026

Recent Examples of Synonyms for took up

Verb

In the five-minute work, Pau employs snippets lifted from government newsreels, most notably footage of a swimming contest held at Victoria Harbor in the 1960s showing throngs of Hong Kong citizens launching themselves into the ocean and paddling enthusiastically.

— Pauline J. Yao, Artforum, 2 May 2026
At one point, the 4-year-old lifted the blanket, exposing his bare stomach, and Berrios-Otero’s hand could allegedly be seen appearing to be below the child’s stomach area, an investigator wrote in the warrant affidavits.

— Justin Muszynski, Hartford Courant, 2 May 2026