Meanings
- idiomaticinformalAvailable for anyone to obtain, claim, decide, or win.
The Senate is up for grabs in November's election.
2006 November 5, Robert Hicks, “Opinion: Separate but Equal”, in New York Times, retrieved 12 Jul 20112 more examples
Gandhi today is up for grabs. He has become abstract, ahistorical, postmodern, no longer a man in and of his time but a freeloading concept.
1998 April 13, Salman Rushdie, “Mohandas Gandhi”, in Time"In the transformation of clean technology, it's up for grabs whether the giants will be American or Chinese or from other countries," says Salzman.
2009 November 18, Julie Schmit, “China pushes solar, wind power development”, in USA Today, retrieved 12 Jul 2011
Translations
Chinese Mandarin 未定之天
- 未定之天available for anyone to obtain, claim, decide, or win
Dutch te grabbel, vrij beschikbaar
- te grabbelavailable for anyone to obtain, claim, decide, or win
- vrij beschikbaaravailable for anyone to obtain, claim, decide, or win
Finnish vapaata riistaa
- vapaata riistaaavailable for anyone to obtain, claim, decide, or win
French libre
- libreavailable for anyone to obtain, claim, decide, or win
German frei verfügbar, zu haben
- frei verfügbaravailable for anyone to obtain, claim, decide, or win
- zu habenavailable for anyone to obtain, claim, decide, or win
Hungarian szabad préda, aki kapja, marja
- szabad prédaavailable for anyone to obtain, claim, decide, or win
- aki kapja, marjaavailable for anyone to obtain, claim, decide, or win
Cite this entry
up for grabs. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/up%20for%20grabs
“up for grabs.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/up%20for%20grabs. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “up for grabs,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/up%20for%20grabs.
Source: up for grabs on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.