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.

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

#cut the mustard#cut corners#go the extra mile#under your belt

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