rack up meaning and examples thumbnail

rack up meaning and examples

2025-09-28

Meaning

  • Rack up means to accumulate or achieve a large amount of something, usually numbers, points, wins, or expenses.
  • It often emphasizes a quick or impressive accumulation.

Grammar and Usage

  • Part of speech: phrasal verb

  • Transitive (usually takes an object).

  • Structure: rack up + noun

    • Example: He racked up huge debts.
    • Example: She racked up three victories in a row.

Common Phrases

  • Rack up points – gain points in a game.
  • Rack up wins/victories – achieve many wins.
  • Rack up debts – accumulate debts.
  • Rack up sales – achieve high sales.
  • Rack up losses – accumulate financial or game losses.

Collocations

  • rack up + points
  • rack up + debt
  • rack up + miles
  • rack up + wins
  • rack up + profits

Examples

  1. She racked up 200 points in the game.
  2. The company racked up record sales last quarter.
  3. He racked up a huge phone bill while traveling abroad.
  4. The athlete racked up medals during his career.
  5. They racked up a lot of debt by using their credit cards carelessly.
  6. Our team racked up five wins in a row.
  7. The airline passenger racked up frequent-flyer miles.
  8. The movie racked up several awards at international film festivals.
  • accumulate
  • collect
  • amass
  • build up
  • pile up

Antonym

  • pay off
  • reduce
  • cut down
  • lose