A dictionary of Confusable Phrases: More Than 10,000 Idioms and Collocations

come out against something • come up against
something
come out against something —oppose smth.; declare one’s op-
position to smth.: Those who come out against unity are act-
ing against the interests of the country.
come up against something —(also: be up against something )
encounter a serious obstacle or problem: They came up against
a lot of opposition to their plans.
come out ahead • go ahead
come out ahead —succeed or make a profit: The player can
be in the hole by any amount of money and still come out
ahead in the end.
go ahead —
1
. move in front: The advance party has gone
ahead to see if the mountain is safe for the other climbers. 2.
– 81 –
come out ahead

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start or continue with smth., especially after a period of un-
certainty or delay: Our expectation is that the elections will
go ahead. 3. is used to indicate that a person is welcome to do
smth.: “Would you mind if I used your phone?” “Sure, go
ahead.” Cf.: get the go-ahead — get permission to begin an activ-
ity: We are delighted to get the go-ahead for this project.
See also: come forward / go forward.
come out for something • go out for something
come out for something —
1
. go on strike in order to gain
smth.: The Post Office workers have come out for more pay.
2. support smth.: The Government comes out for the decen-
tralization of the decision-making process.
go out for something —
1
. make a concentrated effort to obtain
or achieve smth.: Don’t trust that man. He just goes out for
anything he can get. 2. = come out for something 
1
: We went
on strike for a noneconomic reason. If we went out for more
pay they could permanently replace us right now.