phrase🎓 English idiom
up to scratch
meeting the required standard
What it means
Meeting the required or expected standard; good enough. It's often used in the negative ('not up to scratch') to say something or someone falls short of what's acceptable.
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Examples
- The hotel was lovely, but the breakfast simply wasn't up to scratch.
- After months of practice, her French is finally up to scratch.
- The manager said our report wasn't up to scratch and asked us to redo it.
- He works hard to keep his fitness up to scratch before each season.
Where it comes from
From 19th-century bare-knuckle boxing, where a line ('the scratch') was drawn across the ring and a fighter unable to come up to it on time was considered beaten.
Related idioms
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