up against

phrasal

: confronted with : face-to-face with

realized that they were up against a major difficulty — Nevil Shute

really took a professional to understand what he was up against — Robertson Davies

* * *

up against

Face to face with, confronted with

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Main Entry: ↑up

* * *

close to or in contact with

crowds pressed up against the police barricades

■ informal confronted with or opposed by

I began to think of what teachers are up against today

■ up against it informal facing some serious but unspecified difficulty

they play better when they're up against it

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up against — see ↑up, 2

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Main Entry: ↑against

————————

up against

1 : placed so as to be touching (something)

The bed was up against the wall.

— see also up against a/the wall at ↑wall, 1

2 : confronted with

The problem we are up against [=the problem that we have to deal with] is a difficult one.

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Main Entry: ↑up