phrasal verb · neutral
come up short
UK/kʌm ʌp ʃɔːt/US/kʌm ʌp ʃɔrt/come·up·SHORT
task2speaking
to fail to achieve a desired or expected result; to fall short
Examples
“The team came up short in the final and lost the championship.”
“We came up short of the fundraising target by £500.”
“Despite hard work, the project came up short of its aims.”
Band 8 sentence
“Despite an ambitious marketing campaign, the product launch came up short of internal sales projections.”
Collocations
- come up short of the target
- come up short in the final
Word family
come up short vcomes up short vcame up short v (past)
Common mistakes
come short→come up short
fell shorted→fell short
Say it for a higher band
5fail→6fall short→7+come up short
Synonyms
fall short
Easily confused
fall short
“The company's profits fell short of forecasts.”
Related words
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