up against

prep — 2 senses

up against

prep

1

Idiomatic Facing; challenging, or opposing.

If you try to change the school schedule like that, you'll be up against legions of angry parents.

2

In contact with, abutting.

If the tree grows up against the garden wall then either the tree will be crowded and stunted or the wall will be pushed out.

Derived terms: be up against, go up against, hit up against, rub up against, run up against, stand up against, up against it, up against the wall

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — list of authors.