Look up meaning
Look up means to find information in a dictionary, a book or online. It can also mean to raise your eyes to see something above you.
look something up
look up · looked · looking
If you don’t know a word, look it up.
Look up meanings and examples
4 meanings, each with its own CEFR level. A level marked ~ is our estimate: Oxford and Cambridge give none for that meaning.
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1
Find information in a dictionary, a book or online
look something up
- If you don’t know a word, look it up.
- I looked up the train times on my phone.
- Can you look up the address for me?
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2
Raise your eyes to see something above you
look up
- Look up! There’s a rainbow.
- She looked up from her book and smiled.
- The children looked up at the plane.
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3
Visit or contact someone you have not seen for a long time
look somebody up
- If you’re in Rome, look my brother up.
- I looked up an old friend when I was in Berlin.
- She promised to look us up next summer.
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4
Get better, usually for a situation
look up
- Things are looking up at work.
- Business is looking up after a slow winter.
- My life is finally looking up.
Café orders
New friends
At the airport
Slova
Use look up in real conversations
- Learn new words with picture cards
- Talk with Felix, an AI tutor, about the things you love
- Short lessons at your level, a few minutes a day
Is look up separable?
When look up means find information, it is separable: look up a word, look a word up. A pronoun goes in the middle: look it up, not look up it.
Raising your eyes and getting better have no object. For the eyes you often add at: look up at the stars. To admire someone you need a different verb, look up to.
Verb tenses for look up
| Present | I look up · she looks up |
|---|---|
| Past | looked up |
| Present perfect | have looked up |
| -ing form | looking up |
Common mistakes with look up
What learners often say, and what to say instead.
Wrong: I looked up it in the dictionary.
Right: I looked it up in the dictionary.
A pronoun goes between look and up.
Wrong: I looked up the word on the dictionary.
Right: I looked up the word in the dictionary.
Use in for a dictionary or a book.
Wrong: She looks up to the words she doesn’t know.
Right: She looks up the words she doesn’t know.
Look up to means admire. Look up means search for information.
Synonyms and opposites of look up
Words close to it, and words that mean the opposite.
Similar
- checksee if something is right or true
- googlelook something up on the internet, informal
- look fortry to find something, not necessarily information
- look up toadmire; do not mix it up with look up
Opposite
- look downlower your eyes to see something below you
- go downget worse, for prices or numbers
Look up quiz
Three quick questions. Pick an answer to see if it is right and why.
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1I don’t know what “reluctant” means. I’ll ___ it ___ online.
Look something up means find information about it.
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2Choose the right sentence.
A pronoun goes in the middle of a separable verb.
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3“Things are looking up.” What does the speaker mean?
Things are looking up means a situation is improving.
More phrasal verbs with look
All phrasal verbs with look, by level, with an exercise
13 phrasal verbs start with look. Test yourself on all of them in a few minutes.
- look forA1try to find someone or something
- look afterA2take care of someone or something and keep them safe and well
- look forward toB1feel happy about something that is going to happen
- look outB1be careful, because something bad may happen
- look atA1turn your eyes towards someone or something
- look aroundB1walk around a place and look at the things in it
- look intoB2examine the facts about a problem to find out the cause
- look backB2think about something that happened in the past
- look down onB2think that you are better than someone
- look up toB2admire and respect someone
- look overC2check something quickly, to see if it is right
- look throughB2read or check something quickly, page by page
Look up FAQ
Questions people ask about look up.
What does look up mean?
The most common meaning is to find information in a dictionary, a book or online: I looked up the opening times. It can also mean raise your eyes, or visit someone you have not seen for a while.
What is the difference between look up and look up to?
Look up is about finding information or raising your eyes. Look up to means admire someone: I look up to my teacher.
What does “things are looking up” mean?
It means the situation is getting better. It is informal and common after a hard time.
Use look up in real conversations
In Slova you learn new words with picture cards, then use them when you talk about the things you love. A few minutes a day, at your level.