own up

verb

owned up; owning up; owns up

intransitive verb

: to admit to being responsible for something

denied having broken the window, but later owned up

—usually used with to

They owned up to having broken the window.

Examples of own up in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The deal would combine Perplexity and TikTok U.S., and would allow for the U.S. government to own up to 50 percent of the new company contingent upon a future IPO. —Michelle Castillo, CNBC, 10 June 2025

And Answers For Friday, May 23 Last week, the current Labour government announced plans to allow foreign states to own up to 15% of British newspapers. —Robert Olsen, Forbes.com, 23 May 2025

The county owned up to the issue and apologized for the error but is still requiring the owners to pay the missing taxes back in full for the school district. —Taylor O’Connor, Kansas City Star, 3 June 2025

Another reader advised the OP to stand her ground, especially as her friend refused to own up and apologize for damaging her stuff. —Erin Clack, People.com, 1 June 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1844, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for own up

• backup
• blowup
• breakup
• buildup
• checkup
• cleanup
• holdup
• hookup
• lineup
• lockup
• makeup
• markup