pump up

verb

pumped up; pumping up; pumps up

transitive verb

1
a
: to fill with enthusiasm or excitement
b
: to fill with or as if with air : inflate
2

Examples of pump up in a Sentence

the crowd was pumped up by the band's rocking performance that pop diva is trying to pump up album sales with an extended publicity tour
Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
In public, the Trumps pump up their projects, yet in private the first family appears to be dumping at least a portion of its holdings. Danielle Chemtob, Forbes.com, 10 June 2025 Former Indianapolis Colts punter and current ESPN host Pat McAfee pumped up Indiana Pacers fans in the final minutes of Game 4 of the Eastern Conference finals on Tuesday, but there's one Indiana native who was not a fan of the pep talk. Ryan Morik, FOXNews.com, 29 May 2025 By attempting to crash all these fields while trying to pump up the most old-fashioned forms of manufacturing through his tariff sledgehammer, Trump seems literally to want to drive Americans from sectors requiring thought and invention to screwing in widgets on assembly lines. Tom Rogers, MSNBC Newsweek, 30 Apr. 2025 His shouting in the moments before games served to not only pump up Donaldson, but everyone else in a Braves uniform. David O'Brien, New York Times, 19 Apr. 2025 See All Example Sentences for pump up

Word History

First Known Use

1791, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Time Traveler
The first known use of pump up was in 1791

Cite this Entry

“Pump up.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pump%20up. Accessed 14 Jun. 2025.

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
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