trip up

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Definition

  1. Verb (transitive):

    • To cause someone to stumble or lose their balance physically: To make someone catch their foot on something and fall or nearly fall.
    • To cause someone to make a mistake or become confused: To expose an error, inconsistency, or lie in someone's speech or actions, often through questioning.
    • To detect a blunder or misstep: To catch someone in an error or reveal a flaw in their argument or story.

  2. Verb (intransitive):

    • To make an error or blunder: To slip up, to make a mistake, especially a careless one.
Usage Examples

  • Verb (transitive):

    • The loose rug tripped up several guests at the party. (It caused them to stumble.)
    • The lawyer's clever questioning tripped up the witness, revealing the inconsistency in his story. (It caused the witness to make a revealing mistake.)
    • The journalist hoped to trip up the official with a difficult query about the budget. (To detect a blunder.)

  • Verb (intransitive):

    • I tripped up on the last question of the exam and put down the wrong answer. (I made a mistake.)
    • Be careful not to trip up on the details when you give your report. (To make an error.)
Advanced Usage
  • "to trip someone up": This phrasal structure emphasizes causing the mistake.
    • The complex regulations are designed to trip up inexperienced applicants.
  • Used in legal, journalistic, and academic contexts to describe the act of exposing a flaw or inconsistency.
    • The researcher's findings tripped up the long-held theory.
Variants and Related Words
  • Trip (verb): To stumble or catch one's foot. Also, to activate a mechanism.
  • Trip-up (noun, informal): An instance of being tripped up or making a mistake.
    • That misleading sign was a real trip-up for drivers.
Synonyms
  • Stumble (verb): To trip physically or to make a mistake.
  • Flounder (verb): To struggle clumsily or make mistakes.
  • Entrap (verb): To catch someone in a mistake or trick (more deliberate).
  • Slip up (verb): To make a careless error (intransitive).
Related Phrasal Verbs
  • Catch out: Very similar in meaning, meaning to detect someone in an error or lie.
    • The teacher caught the student out copying homework.
  • Trip over: Primarily physical, meaning to stumble because of an obstacle. Can also be used metaphorically for stumbling over words.
    • He tripped over the cable. / She tripped over her lines during the speech.
Related Idioms
  • To trip over one's own feet: To make a clumsy mistake, often self-inflicted.
    • The new manager tripped over his own feet by changing too many policies at once.
  • A stumbling block: A problem that causes people to trip up or fail.
    • The technical jargon was a stumbling block for many readers.
Verb
  1. make an error
    • She slipped up and revealed the name
  2. cause to stumble
    • The questions on the test tripped him up
  3. detect a blunder or misstep
    • The reporter tripped up the senator

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