The Phrasal Verb 'Let Up' Explained
- Phrasal Verbs Explained
- 5 days ago
- 7 min read
An explanation of the different meanings of the English phrasal verb 'let up' from a native speaker, with lots of example sentences in context
Hello and welcome to my website for English learners all about phrasal verbs where I explain their different meanings to help you understand, learn and use them.
The phrasal verb 'let up' is a lesser known phrasal verb but is nevertheless a great one to have in your vocabulary as it can be used in many different situations. In the post we'll look at its three different meanings and how they are used by native speakers along with some additional tips for you. So, without further ado, let's make a start....
MEANINGS (Click to jump to each one)
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THE BASICS
LET UP: KEY INFORMATION
Usage | Medium |
Number of meanings | 3 |
Past tense forms | Let up / Let up |
Separable? | Sometimes |
To begin, let's take a look at the individual components of 'let up' and what they mean individually as this can often help with the phrasal verb meanings.
Our main verb is the irregular verb 'to let', which you will probably know as it is a very common English verb with various meanings, however perhaps the main meaning, and the meaning that is relevant for the phrasal verb 'let up', is 'to permit or to allow something'.
We then have the prepositional particle up, meaning to move from a lower point to a higher point or away from the ground ⬆️ ⬆️ ⬆️. So, now we have that in mind, the first of the meanings of 'let up' should be nice and easy for you...
MEANING 1: Literal
CEFR Language Level | B1 - Intermediate |
Usage | Rare |
Where is it used? | Everywhere |
Potential synonyms | Let in, allow up |
Separable? | Yes |
Imagine that you want to go for dinner in an exclusive restaurant, which is on the second floor of a building. You arrive at the door of the building (downstairs) and ask if there is availability for a table to have a meal. The staff then check the bookings and how busy they are in order to make a decision about whether or not to let you up to the restaurant.
The above example is exactly how we use 'let up' in a literal sense in English, i.e. to allow someone to come or go up to a place (normally a room).
When used literally, 'let up' is separable and the direct object, normally a person, goes between the two words. It can also be followed by the preposition 'to' in order to specify the higher place.
As you can imagine, this usage is limited to very specific situations and often an alternative such as 'let in' can be used, especially when the place that you want to go to is inside. 'Let up' is a little bit more specific than 'let in' though, as it includes extra spatial information, so if you can ever use it, it will help your English to sound a little more like a native speaker.
We tried to get into the club upstairs but they were only letting people up who they knew.
The police officers refused to let him up the stairs.
My father would not let me up the stairs until I apologised.
The landlord refused to let his tenants up to the rooftop terrace without a pass.
Beth let up her little brother to the treehouse after making sure that the ladder was secure.
BONUS: To let someone up off the floor
For those of you who are interested in combat sports such as martial arts or karate, you should know that we can also use this application of 'let up'. It is possible to 'let someone up' if you are holding your opponent in a dominant position on the floor and you allow them to get up or stand up again. This can also be used to refer to wrestling and play fighting etc.
She had him trapped, but decided to let him up as a show of respect.
He refused to let his brother up until he promised to stop teasing him.
MEANING 2: To become less intense or to stop
CEFR Language Level | B2 - Upper Intermediate |
Usage | Medium |
Where is it used? | Everywhere |
Potential synonyms | To stop, to die down, to peter out, to subside, to decrease, to diminish, to slow down, to ease, to ease off |
Separable? | No |
So, now we come to the second and most common meaning of the phrasal verb 'to let up', which means to become less intense, to slow down or to stop completely.
Nouns commonly used with this application....
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When native speakers use 'let up' in this way, we are talking about something which we have no control over to make stop or less intense. This is normally (but not always) something negative, most commonly perhaps bad weather such as rain, a storm or snow, which can cause problems or prevent us from doing things. Aside from weather, other nouns that are commonly used with 'let up' are pressure, attacks, work, emails, Covid etc.
From a grammatical perspective, 'let up' used in this way has no direct object (intransitive) and so cannot be separated. Moreover, it often appears at the end of a sentence.
It has been snowing for 24 hours and there is no sign of it letting up.
The pressure I am under at work never seems to let up.
The football match will start as soon as the rain lets up.
Louise kept running until the pain in her legs let up a little.
I don’t think the heat will let up anytime soon; it's been scorching all week.
The wind didn't let up until late in the evening.
If the traffic doesn't let up, we'll be late for the meeting.
John's persistent questioning never let up, making it hard to concentrate.
The noise from the construction site didn't let up all day.
THE NOUN 'LET-UP'
As you may be aware, English native speakers really love creating nouns from verbs and verbs from nouns (a practice called nouning and verbing) and the English language is full of these linguistic creations. 'Let up' is no exception to this and can also be used as a noun. The meaning is exactly the same, however we need to add the word "in" when we want to talk about the thing that we want to stop or reduce in intensity.
There has been no let-up in the rain today!
As soon as there is a let-up in the storm, we will go to the shop.
MEANING 3: To stop doing something
CEFR Language Level | B2 - Upper Intermediate |
Usage | Average |
Where is it used? | Everywhere |
Potential synonyms | To stop, to reduce, to slow down, to ease |
Separable? | No |
The third and final usage of 'let up' that we will consider in this post is linked to the second meaning that we have just looked at and primarily means to stop or reduce doing something you are doing. This is specifically when the action that you are doing has been intense or done with determination.
The difference with this second meaning is that in this case the person can choose to stop or reduce the intensity of the action.
Think of a high profile police investigation where the police actively seek to solve a crime over a long period of time but due to a lack of evidence and results, they decide to reduce their efforts. In such a situation we might say "that after a long period of time the police have let up on the investigation". We could also say the opposite of this i.e. "that the police have not let up on their investigation".
If we let up on someone rather than something, it means that we treat them in a more lenient or less severe way than we were treating them before. It could also be used to say that you are being nicer to someone than you were in the past.
As you can see from the above police example, the additional preposition 'on' is required here before the indirect object noun.
The company has let up on its standards since the new management took over.
The teacher never let up on the students and made sure that they always worked hard.
Bayern Munich didn't let up on their opponents for the whole game.
The coach didn't let up on the team, even after they won the championship.
MORE EXAMPLE SENTENCES WITH 'LET UP'
Memorise and use the sentences below in conversations to help your English come across as more natural and fluent....
As soon as the [noun] lets up, we will.....
[Person] just won't let up!
There has been no let-up in the [noun].
I think you should let up on [person].
I will never let up until I [verb].
With a bit of luck the [weather] will let up later today.
SPEAKING QUESTIONS FOR FURTHER PRACTICE
Has there ever been a time when you have had to cancel plans because the bad weather would not let up?
Were your parents lenient with you when you were growing up? If not, do you wish they had let up on you a bit more? Why?
Have you ever said that you will never let up on a project or future plan? Did you ever let up on it or did you see it through?
We have now reached the end of this post and I just want to say thank you for clicking on my post and reading it. I hope that you've enjoyed it and have been able to learn something new about the phrasal verb 'let up'. If you enjoyed this post, please go ahead and check out some of my other posts.
Now it is YOUR turn. Can you think of a sentence yourself using 'let up'. Write it in the comments section below if you can, or alternatively any comments, suggestions or feedback that you may have....don't be shy!!!
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THE END
very useful post! Thank you