How to Use take up in a Sentence

take up

verb
  • The soil was so dry that the plant seemed to take up the much-needed water instantly.
  • The oversized piece took up much of the frame of the camera.
    — Mikelle Street, WWD, 9 Feb. 2025
  • And the burr grinder takes up far more counter space in my small kitchen.
    — Shira Ovide, Washington Post, 21 Nov. 2023
  • The case was put on hold as the Supreme Court then took up the matter.
    — Robert Legare, CBS News, 26 Nov. 2024
  • If polyps are found, the colonoscopy may take up to 45 minutes.
    — Jeffrey Kluger, TIME, 15 Aug. 2024
  • The beds and the dressers that came with the room took up the majority of their space.
    — Jeff A. Chamer, Charlotte Observer, 25 July 2024
  • Flaming garbage took up the whole northbound side of the street.
    — Miguel Torres, The Arizona Republic, 10 Sep. 2024
  • There's a lot on the line here—boots take up a lot of space in your closet.
    — Kerry Pieri, Harper's BAZAAR, 17 Aug. 2022
  • But Estrada would wait a year for the Supreme Court to take up her case.
    — Washington Post, 20 Apr. 2022
  • Even she is impressed by the sheer space these things take up!
    — Kinsey Jasnoch, Vulture, 7 Mar. 2025
  • Next come the galleries, which take up the whole southern end of the building.
    — Michael J. Lewis, WSJ, 5 Nov. 2022
  • This has a sharp design that doesn’t take up much space.
    — Chris Hachey, BGR, 30 Nov. 2022
  • The high court is expected to take up the case in March or April.
    — Barnini Chakraborty, Washington Examiner, 15 Jan. 2024
  • There are at least three books this fall that take up the call to think about joy and ask us to think with them.
    — Tess Taylor, CNN, 18 Nov. 2022
  • The Supreme Court agreed in October to take up Ames' case.
    — Melissa Quinn, CBS News, 25 Feb. 2025
  • The three-member board could take up the issue as soon as next week.
    — Sharon Coolidge, The Enquirer, 9 Aug. 2022
  • The species can take up to four to five years to mature from the nascent tadpole stage to the adult frog stage, Lundy added.
    — Zoe Sottile, CNN, 24 Sep. 2022
  • The House is expected to take up the measure by week’s end.
    — Mark Pazniokas, Hartford Courant, 8 Aug. 2022
  • The appeals court agreed last month to take up Trump's appeal.
    — Olivia Rubin, ABC News, 3 June 2024
  • Rickey took up the fans on an offer to go hunt wild boar.
    — Daniel Brown, The Athletic, 2 Feb. 2025
  • Its sleek and slim design won’t take up much space on your kitchen counter.
    — Sarah Yang, Sunset Magazine, 8 Oct. 2024
  • But that can’t quite get The Son past the middling dramatic scenes that take up so much of the movie.
    — K. Austin Collins, Rolling Stone, 19 Jan. 2023
  • This may take up to 40 minutes, depending on the size and ripeness of the banana.
    — Beth Branch, Country Living, 26 May 2022
  • The House Committee on Ethics will now take up the matter.
    — Tim Balk New York Daily News (tns), al, 3 Mar. 2023
  • The target, however, could take up to 50 years to be achieved.
    — Kayna Whitworth, ABC News, 22 Apr. 2022
  • Prosecutors asked the Supreme Court to take up the case, but the court declined to do so in March 2021.
    — Brendan Morrow, The Week, 18 May 2022
  • The hockey rink up the street — T-Mobile Arena — takes up roughly the same amount of space.
    — Dieter Kurtenbach, The Mercury News, 6 Feb. 2024
  • The court is expected to take up the issue in a hearing next month.
    — Stephen Kalin, WSJ, 18 Nov. 2022
  • The Senate then took up the bill and approved it during an evening vote of 77-13.
    — Democrat-Gazette Staff From Wire Reports, arkansasonline.com, 1 Mar. 2024
  • When fully opened up, all of these models will take up considerably more space on top, in front, and in back of the unit.
    — David English, PCMAG, 9 Mar. 2025

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'take up.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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