Strike up names beginning an interpersonal or professional connection -- a conversation, a friendship, a working relationship, or a partnership -- through a social opening, rather than a scheduled or formally negotiated start. It's the word for the coffee-break exchange with a keynote speaker, not for a signed contract.
The grammar pattern: irregular past tense, fixed word order
The past tense is irregular: strike becomes struck, not striked.
"We struck up a great conversation while waiting for the panel to start."
The object goes directly after up -- this phrase doesn't separate the way many phrasal verbs do:
"She struck up a conversation with the keynote speaker about the new regulation." (correct)
Not "she struck a conversation up with the keynote speaker." When both the other person and a topic appear, the order is with [someone] about [something].
Three worked examples
A single conversation, the most common use:
"I struck up a conversation with someone on the flight, and it turned out she'd worked at the same company years ago."
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Start learning for free →A relationship beginning, distinct from its later development:
"He struck up a friendship with a colleague from a different office during a cross-team project."
A professional partnership beginning organically:
"The two startups struck up a collaboration after meeting at the same industry conference two years running."
Two myths to avoid
"It has to be by chance." Strike up doesn't require spontaneity. A manager who makes a habit of approaching every new hire is still striking up conversations deliberately: "She makes a point of striking up conversations with every new hire in their first week."
"It has to be pleasant." The word describes the social opening, not the emotional tone or content of what follows. "I struck up a conversation about the layoffs" is grammatical -- serious topics don't disqualify the word.
What it does rule out is a formal, procedural manner of beginning. Strike up is the wrong word for a negotiated contract, a scheduled meeting, or a lawsuit -- those get negotiate, hold, or file. And watch the irregular past tense: "we striked up" is the single most flaggable form error with this expression.
Practice scenarios
Practice using strike up in situations like:
- describing how a conversation began with someone new at a conference or event
- narrating how a working relationship or partnership started organically
- catching yourself before applying strike up to a formal, negotiated process
Useful practice phrases:
- "I struck up a conversation with [someone] about [topic]."
- "We struck up a [friendship/partnership] after [how it began]."
- "She makes a point of striking up conversations with [group]."
Strike up narrates beginnings, not outcomes. It doesn't promise the conversation went well, and it doesn't need luck behind it -- only an informal, social opening rather than a formal, procedural one.
Get the past tense and the word order right, and the rest is just picking the right kind of beginning to describe.
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