AAAmerican Accent US

look up to

Inseparable

The verb and particle never split. The object always follows the whole phrase.

How to say it

Main stress lands on the first particle: look UP to. The trailing “to” reduces almost to nothing — expect a schwa, not a full vowel.

Link across the gap. The final /k/ of “look” moves onto the particle and starts its syllable: “look up” is said “loo-kup”. Pausing between the words is what makes phrasal verbs sound recited rather than spoken.

What it means

  1. To admire and respect someone.

    • “I've always looked up to my older sister.”
    • “The younger players look up to him.”

    Similar: admire, respect

Don’t confuse it with

look down onTo consider someone inferior.

Look UP TO admires. Look DOWN ON despises. Exact mirror images.

The particle logic

up

Something is finished, raised, improved, or brought together.

to

The thing the action points at, sticks to, or is measured against.

Listen + practice

Hear “look up to” spoken naturally

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More LOOK phrasal verbs

Compare the whole family →

look up

To search for information in a reference source.

look for

To search for something or someone.

look after

To take care of someone or something.

look forward to

To feel pleased about something that is going to happen. Always followed by a noun or an -ING form, never an infinitive.

look down on

To consider someone inferior.

look into

To investigate something.

look out

To be careful — usually shouted as a warning.

look over

To examine something fairly quickly.

look through

To examine a collection item by item.

look back

To think about the past.

look up to — meaning, examples & how to say it