How to Use pick/take up the slack in a Sentence

pick/take up the slack

idiom
  • Will the Reds have someone(s) to pick up the slack when the Bat Men cool?
    Paul Daugherty, The Enquirer, 7 June 2021
  • The five other seniors did their best to pick up the slack.
    Ryan Black, The Courier-Journal, 2 Mar. 2023
  • Chances are good that at least one person will be ready to pick up the slack.
    Tarot Astrologers, Chicago Tribune, 12 Mar. 2023
  • And no one else on the roster has yet appeared close to being able to pick up the slack.
    Dylan Bumbarger, oregonlive, 4 Apr. 2023
  • The front office didn’t end up adding a pass-rushing prospect in the draft, so the trio of free agents will truly need to pick up the slack.
    Mike Kaye, Charlotte Observer, 19 June 2024
  • Cleveland’s bigs -- Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley -- tried to pick up the slack.
    Chris Fedor, cleveland, 14 Jan. 2023
  • With the city taking a back seat, it has been left to nonprofits like Flatbush Cats to take up the slack.
    Richard Schiffman Erin Schaff, New York Times, 8 June 2023
  • If Nvidia falters, other stocks are likely, at some point, to pick up the slack.
    Jeff Sommer, New York Times, 15 Mar. 2024
  • For example, if one parent dies, the other might need their child to pick up the slack.
    Nicole Harris, Parents, 24 July 2023
  • If somebody lost their job, who’s going to pick up the slack so that their share of the payment is covered?
    Lauren Phillips, Better Homes & Gardens, 11 July 2024
  • The remaining core of last year's championship team will have to pick up the slack in the interim.
    Michael Shapiro, Chron, 22 Mar. 2023
  • If not, your muscles will pick up the slack in an attempt to keep you upright, which can cause fatigue.
    Sanah Faroke, Peoplemag, 16 Nov. 2023
  • Maybe Samsung's competitors could just pick up the slack.
    Ron Amadeo, Ars Technica, 7 June 2024
  • Other airlines, meanwhile, are doing their best to pick up the slack.
    Nicole Goodkind, CNN, 29 Dec. 2022
  • Anthony Edwards again struggled from the field and, this time, there was no one else stepping up to pick up the slack.
    Jace Frederick, Twin Cities, 6 Apr. 2024
  • With summer here the last thing on anyone’s mind is household chores — so invest in a smart cleaning tool that can pick up the slack.
    Toni Sutton, Peoplemag, 23 June 2024
  • With the future of voice assistants at these Big Tech firms looking shaky, the hope is that the open source projects like Home Assistant will pick up the slack.
    Ron Amadeo, Ars Technica, 1 June 2023
  • Moreover, when people quit, the remaining workers must pick up the slack.
    Jack Kelly, Forbes, 8 Mar. 2023
  • Furthermore, if either Mostert or Achane has to miss time, Wright is there to pick up the slack and the offense doesn’t have to change for his insertion.
    David Furones, Sun Sentinel, 15 July 2024
  • Very rarely do teams have a full staff on the homestead as their team tries to prepare for an opponent, meaning other staffers have to pick up the slack.
    Kevin Reynolds, The Salt Lake Tribune, 17 Dec. 2022
  • The Crusaders had nine receivers catch passes for more than 3,000 yards last season, which means four juniors and a pair of sophomores will need to pick up the slack.
    Steve Brand, San Diego Union-Tribune, 8 Aug. 2023
  • This can create messy situations as the employees with strong work ethic have to pick up the slack.
    Lynne Curry | Alaska Workplace, Anchorage Daily News, 11 Sep. 2023
  • Veteran employees are often asked to pick up the slack, leading to burnout.
    Ben Casselman, New York Times, 3 Jan. 2023
  • To take up the slack, the authors have displaced the story’s crisis onto Dr. Amigo (Caesar Samayoa) himself.
    Jesse Green, New York Times, 10 Dec. 2023
  • Similar intelligence units located around the U.S. will have to take up the slack.
    David Martin, CBS News, 18 Apr. 2023
  • Over the past two years, many companies trimmed staff or froze hiring, forcing existing employees to pick up the slack.
    Jason Leverant, Forbes, 26 Feb. 2024
  • But hopefully Telo can pick up the slack and build a small pickup truck, because Ford still hasn’t despite filing a few trademarks almost a year ago.
    Umar Shakir, The Verge, 13 June 2023
  • The responsibility is shifting to newer heroes to pick up the slack.
    Rebecca Rubin, Variety, 27 Mar. 2023
  • He was forced to give up controlling interest in the Stallions, with minority owners — and even the city of Birmingham — counted on to pick up the slack.
    Creg Stephenson | Cstephenson@al.com, al, 27 July 2023
  • Or, CEOs who feel stretched thin might begin dodging the most taxing duties of their role, leaving an overwhelmed successor to pick up the slack before their first real day on the job.
    Bylila MacLellan, Fortune, 3 Mar. 2023

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

Last Updated: