spruce up

verb

spruced up; sprucing up; spruces up

: to make (someone or something) look cleaner, neater, or more attractive

We spruced up the room with a fresh coat of paint.

I need to spruce myself up a bit before we go out to dinner.

Did you know?

titivate, spruce up, smarten up, or spiff up?

Titivate, spruce, smarten, and spiff all mean "to make a person or thing neater or more attractive." Titivate often refers to making small additions or alterations in attire ("titivate the costume with sequins and other accessories"), but it can also be used figuratively (as in "titivating the script for Broadway"). Spruce up is sometimes used for cosmetic changes or renovations that give the appearance of newness ("spruce up the house with new shutters and fresh paint before trying to sell it"). Smarten up and spiff up both mean to improve in appearance often by making more neat or stylish ("the tailor smartened up the suit with minor alterations"; "he needed some time to spiff himself up for the party"). The origins of titivate are uncertain, but it may have been formed from the English words tidy and renovate.

Examples of spruce up in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Now, her face looks over the entrance to the library, which was created in partnership with the San Jose Public Library and spruced up a few years ago by the Golden State Warriors. —Sal Pizarro, Mercury News, 19 May 2026

Whether tidying the kitchen, sprucing up the bedroom, or fully organizing the garage, experts recommend keeping these household items instead of tossing them. —Wendy Rose Gould, Martha Stewart, 16 May 2026

Fort Worth’s 83-year-old Roy Pope Grocery is sprucing up its dining experience. —Ella Gonzales, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 15 May 2026

Adding a colorful container garden to an entry is an easy way to spruce up your front porch. —Nellah Bailey McGough, Southern Living, 12 May 2026

Rhymes for spruce up

• buttercup
• backup
• blowup
• breakup
• buildup
• checkup
• cleanup
• holdup
• hookup
• lineup
• lockup
• makeup