up against

/ˌʌp ɐɡˈɛnst/

[phrase]

up against

[PHRASE]

faced with a problem or difficult situation

Examples

1. The company is up against a lot of competition.

2. And no matter who you were in world history, if you wanted to make a name for yourself in terms of war, you really needed to be up against the Persians.

3. For example, if there's a strong republican candidate up against a weak republican candidate in a state with open primaries, democrats can turn up and vote for the weak republican in the hopes that if he wins he will have less of a chance in the general election running against a democrat.

4. You could go up against Sub Zero and he could pull your spine out.