Wind up means to end up somewhere or in some situation, usually not as planned: wind up in hospital, wind up paying more. In informal British English, wind someone up means to tease them, play a joke on them or deliberately annoy them: Are you winding me up? Here wind is pronounced /waɪnd/, as in winding a clock, not like the wind that blows.
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wind up + in/at + place; wind up + -ing; wind up with + noun; wind somebody up (UK)
- We took a wrong turn and wound up in a tiny village with no signal.
- If you don't book early, you'll wind up paying twice as much.
- Relax, he isn't really leaving the team, he's just winding you up.
What changed
First versionWe missed the bus and wound up to walk home in the rain.
RevisionWe missed the bus and wound up walking home in the rain.
It feels natural to put to + verb after wind up, but the action that follows takes the -ing form: wound up walking. The correction replaces to walk with walking.
End up means the same and sounds more neutral: We ended up in a tiny village. Wind down is something else entirely: to relax and slow down, I watch a series to wind down after work.
Your turn
We couldn't find a free table anywhere, so we ___ eating sandwiches in the park.
Show the answer
wound up — There were no free tables, and it all ended with sandwiches in the park, so wound up. Wound down means “relaxed, slowed down”, which has nothing to do with the result of a failed search.
Describe a trip or evening that didn't go to plan. Say where you ended up.
We planned a quiet dinner in town but wound up dancing at a friend's birthday party until 3 a.m.
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