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

: increase sense 1

Synonyms

• charge
• electrify
• excite
• exhilarate
• galvanize
• intoxicate
• thrill
• titillate
• turn on

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

Like The Rock, though, everything’s more pumped up in this flick, from dangerous snowmen who show up in a submarine/ice cream truck (no, really) to Nick’s brother Krampus (Kristofer Hivju), a muscular fellow with his own satanic sleigh. —Brian Truitt, USA TODAY, 14 Nov. 2024

Former President Donald Trump unleashed a series of misleading campaign promotions littered with falsehoods and disinformation as part of the final effort to pump up his bid for the presidency. —David Faris, Newsweek, 4 Nov. 2024

Chefs have been screaming about this forever, but unfortunately for a very long time, only certain areas were pumped up. —Jennifer Kester, Forbes, 31 Oct. 2024

Tesla reported strong earnings yesterday and CEO Elon Musk continued to pump up his fans. —Diane Brady, Fortune, 24 Oct. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1791, in the meaning defined at sense 1a