trip up

phrasal verb

tripped up; tripping up; trips up

: to cause (someone) to make a mistake

He tried to trip up the cashier as she counted his change.

Examples of trip up in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web Departments also are making changes so good candidates don’t get tripped up on outdated tests. —

Karen Kucher, San Diego Union-Tribune, 26 May 2024 Travelers are frequently tripped up by the TSA liquid rules — specifically, the 3-1-1 policy regarding liquids in carry-on bags. —

Stefanie Waldek, Travel + Leisure, 20 May 2024 In their view, the potential upside of watching your opponent melt down is greater than the risk of tripping up. —

Matthew Continetti, National Review, 18 May 2024 Early-career employees trip up when their enviable self-worth manifests as entitlement. —

Phil Blair, San Diego Union-Tribune, 13 May 2024 However, he has been tripped up in the past few weeks. —

Tal Axelrod, ABC News, 10 May 2024 The school leaders also seemed prepared for questions that had tripped up the Harvard and Penn presidents. —

Michael Levenson, New York Times, 8 May 2024 Zendaya's appeared at the gala five times while Lopez has a whopping 13 trips up the Met Gala steps under her belt. —

Jay Stahl, USA TODAY, 15 Feb. 2024 But the business got tripped up with overexpansion and brand mismanagement in recent years. —

Anne D'innocenzio, Fortune Europe, 17 Apr. 2024

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'trip up.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.