write up — evaluate formally
phrasal verbC1IELTS 7+neutralrare
To produce a formal, often critical, evaluation or assessment of someone or something, especially in a professional, academic, or business context.
Say it like a native
Textbook The supervisor formally documented the employee's misconduct.
Native The manager wrote him up for being late.
'Write someone up' is the workplace verb for formally reporting them (American usage); the formal version is wordy.
Pattern: write up someone/something
In use
- The manager decided to write up the employee for repeated lateness, which will go on his record.business
- In some organisations, supervisors are required to write up staff members who violate company policy, ensuring that there is a formal record of any misconduct.IELTS speaking
Common mistake
✗ She was written up of poor performance.
✓ She was written up for poor performance.
'Write someone up FOR' something — not 'of'.
Common collocations
write up + for— for misconduct, for being late, a review, a report on
Don't confuse it
This sense is different from the B1 meaning of 'write up' (to create a report from notes), as it focuses on the act of formally evaluating or assessing, not just reporting information.
Related
- write up (to write a report or article using notes you made earlier) — 'write up' also has the more basic meaning 'to write a report or article using notes you made earlier'; this is the advanced sense.