show up meaning and examples
Meaning
- Show up means to arrive at a place, especially where someone is expected, often at an event, meeting, or appointment.
- It can also mean to become visible, to be noticed, or to embarrass or expose someone.
Grammar and Usage
- Part of speech: phrasal verb
- Structure: show up + (place/person)
- Can be intransitive (“He didn’t show up”) or transitive when referring to exposing someone (“She showed him up in front of everyone”).
Variations
- show up late/early = arrive at a specific time.
- show someone up = embarrass or reveal someone’s weakness.
Common Phrases
- “show up on time”
- “show up for work”
- “show up late”
- “show up uninvited”
- “show someone up”
Collocations
- verbs + show up: fail to show up, manage to show up, finally show up
- adverbs + show up: never show up, always show up, suddenly show up
- show up + nouns: show up mistakes, show up flaws, show up differences
Examples
- He didn’t show up to the party last night.
- Please show up at least 15 minutes early for the interview.
- The problem only shows up when the system is overloaded.
- She showed him up by answering the question he couldn’t.
- Only three students showed up for the lecture.
- His nervousness showed up in his shaking hands.
- The colors show up better in bright light.
- I was surprised when he finally showed up after two weeks.
- arrive
- appear
- turn up
- attend
- expose (for “show someone up”)
Antonym
- fail to appear
- disappear
- skip
- hide
