look up — search for information
phrasal verbB1IELTS 5+neutralcommon
To try to find information about something, usually in a book, online, or in a list.
Say it like a native
Textbook I will consult a dictionary to verify that term.
Native I'll just look it up.
'Look up' is the everyday verb for searching for a fact. 'Consult a dictionary' is formal and old-fashioned in speech.
Pattern: look up [noun] (in/on [source])
In use
- If you don't know the word, you can look it up in the dictionary.study
- During my studies, I often have to look up new terms online to understand my textbooks better.IELTS speaking
Common mistake
✗ Let me look up it online.
✓ Let me look it up online.
With a pronoun, the object goes in the middle: 'look it up'.
Common collocations
look up + info— a word, the address, the time, the score
Don't confuse it
'Look for' means to search for something you have lost or want to find, but 'look up' means to search for information.
Related
- look up (improve) — Another meaning of 'look up' is 'improve'; compare the examples to keep the meanings separate.