NEW: English for Tech Bundle → Save 40%
Speak Tech English
Book class
Your progress…

Loading your progress…

Home
Meetings & Communicationnoun · /ˈstændʌp/

Standup

In simple English

Standups are a core ritual in Agile teams. The name comes from people traditionally standing during the meeting to keep it short and focused. It is not a status report for managers, but a way for the team to sync and unblock each other quickly. Some teams do standups in person, others remote via video call or Slack.

New to tech? Wondering what a standup meeting is and why your team does one daily?

At a glanceCEFR B1–B2
New app · Free lessons

Speak up in meetings. Feel confident.

Standup vocabulary, native examples, and quick practice — 100+ free lessons

Start learning freeNo card needed · Google or email
MemberMemberMember

3,000+ tech pros preparing for global tech roles

Lessons · Quizzes · Progress

Say it like this

✓Let us jump into standup
✓Quick standup sync at 10?
✓I will keep this short for standup
✓See you at daily standup
✓Anything blocking you in standup today?
✓Standup is at 9:30 AM sharp

Real examples

Standup

"Yesterday I fixed the login bug, today I am starting the password reset feature. Blocked on API docs from the backend team."

Slack

"Can we move standup 15 minutes earlier tomorrow? I have a client call at 10."

Standup

"I finished code review on three PRs. Today I will work on the database optimization ticket. No blockers."

Jira

"Mentioned in standup that we need to revisit the deployment pipeline. Let us create a story for that."

Standup

"We are waiting on the design mockups before we can start the UI refactor. Can someone follow up with design?"

Slack

"Quick reminder: standup moved to 9 AM because of the all-hands meeting today."

Interview

"In our team, we do a 15-minute standup every morning to keep everyone aligned and surface blockers early."

Don't say this

✕I will attend the standup meeting tomorrow.
✓I will join standup tomorrow. / See you at standup tomorrow.— Engineers say "join standup" or just "standup", not "standup meeting". It is redundant.
✕In standup, I reported about my progress.
✓In standup, I shared what I did yesterday and what I am working on today.— Standup is not a formal "progress report". Use simpler language: "what I did", "what I am doing", "blockers".
✕Standup should be 30 minutes long so we can discuss everything.
✓Standup should be 10–15 minutes. Detailed discussions happen in separate meetings.— Standup is meant to be quick. Long discussions defeat the purpose. That is why it is called a "standup".

Other forms

noun

standup

"Our standup starts at 9 AM."

noun (verb form)

stand up

"We stand up for our daily sync."

adjective

standup

"This is a standup format meeting."

noun (phrase)

daily standup

"The daily standup keeps us aligned."

noun (phrase)

standup meeting

"The standup meeting is at 10 AM."

Often used with

join standupTo participate in the standup meeting
daily standupA standup that happens every day
standup blockersProblems mentioned during standup that block progress
standup syncA quick synchronization meeting, another name for standup
skip standupTo not attend standup that day
move standupTo change the time of the standup meeting

Similar words

daily syncShorter, more casual version of "standup". Means the same thing.
scrumUsed in Scrum teams specifically. More formal, but same purpose.
team syncMore general term. Can be longer or shorter than a standup.
morning huddleLess technical, more informal. Similar concept, wider business use.
check-inBroader term. A standup is one type of check-in.

Opposites

asynchronous updatewritten status reportemail updateone-on-one meetingsprint review

Featured course

English for Developers Bundle

Full tech-English bundle for meetings, code reviews, and everyday developer communication.

500+ reviews

View

Practice

Try it

4 quick exercises

Which sounds most natural?

1. Your team is about to have their daily meeting. Which way do engineers usually say it?

Spot the mistake

2. Which sentence has a mistake?

Fill in the blank

3. Yesterday I finished the database migration. Today I will _____ the API tests. No blockers.

Rewrite for a standup

4. Rewrite this as if you were speaking in a real standup (keep it short and clear): "I have been working on refactoring the authentication module for the past two days and I expect to complete it by the end of the week, but I need help from the DevOps team to test the new endpoints in staging."

Questions

Quick poll

Have you said "standup" in a standup this week?

Want more structured practice like this? Our English for Programmers course covers real workplace English in depth.

Your badges

XLinkedIn
← Back to home