round up
Học thuậtThân thiện
Definition
- Verb (transitive):
- To gather or collect people or animals together, often by moving them from various places into one group: The core meaning involves actively seeking out and assembling a scattered group.
- To bring together for a specific purpose, such as an event, meeting, or action: Often implies an organized effort to convene individuals.
Usage Examples
- Verb:
- The shepherd needed to round up the sheep before the storm. (The shepherd needed to gather the scattered sheep into one group.)
- Can you help me round up the committee members for the emergency meeting? (Can you help me find and assemble the committee members?)
- The police rounded up the usual suspects for questioning. (The police collected the typical suspects together.)
Advanced Usage
- "to round up support/votes": To actively gather or secure support or votes from various people.
- The candidate spent the final week trying to round up undecided voters.
- "to round up a number": In mathematics, to increase a number to the nearest whole number or specified decimal place. (Note: This is a distinct, common meaning but uses the same phrasal verb form.)
- Round up 4.7 to the nearest whole number, and you get 5.
Variants and Related Words
- Roundup (noun): An act of gathering people or animals together.
- The annual cattle roundup begins next week.
- Round (verb, adjective, noun, adverb, preposition): The base word with many meanings, including circular shape, a stage of competition, or to make something circular.
Synonyms
- Assemble: To bring together.
- Gather: To come or bring together.
- Muster: To assemble, especially for military service or inspection.
- Corral: To gather and confine (often used for livestock).
Related Phrasal Verbs
- Round off: To conclude or finish something smoothly.
- Let's round off the evening with a nightcap.
- Round on: To suddenly turn and attack someone verbally or physically.
- He suddenly rounded on his critics during the interview.
Related Idioms
- Round up the usual suspects: A phrase meaning to investigate or blame the people typically suspected in a situation, often used humorously or cynically. It originates from the film .
- The source of the rumor is unknown, so they just rounded up the usual suspects.
Verb
- seek out and bring together
- round up some loyal followers