Merriam-Webster Logo
SINCE 1828
Menu
×

An Encyclopædia Britannica Company

bring up

verb

Definition of bring up

  1. transitive verb

  2. 1 :  to bring (a person) to maturity through nurturing care and education

  3. 2 :  to cause to stop suddenly

  4. 3 :  to bring to attention :  introduce

  5. 4 :  vomit

  6. intransitive verb

  7. :  to stop suddenly

See bring up defined for kids

Explore M-W

payday
How Often Is 'Biweekly'?
supreme-court-at-dusk
Trending: SCOTUS: 'Bona Fide' relationships
image599301899
Pretty in 'Pink'
istock-refers-to-this-as-a-tumble-of-strawberries-which-sounded-pretty-nice-to-us
June 2017 Words of the Day Quiz

Examples of bring up in a Sentence

  1. it takes an immense commitment and a lot of love to bring up a child properly

  2. I hate to bring this up, but we're running short of money.

First Known Use of bring up

14th century

bring up Synonyms

Synonyms
breed, foster, nourish, nurse, raise, rear
Related Words
father, mother; attend, care (for), cradle, cultivate, mind, minister (to), nurture, watch; discipline, educate, instruct, mentor, school, teach, train, tutor; edify, enlighten, indoctrinate; feed, provide (for), supply; advance, forward, further, promote; prepare; direct, guide, lead, shepherd, show
Near Antonyms
abuse, ill-treat, ill-use, maltreat, mishandle, mistreat; ignore, neglect; harm, hurt, injure

Medical Dictionary

bring up

play
transitive verb \(ˈ)briŋ-ˈəp\

Medical Definition of bring up

  1. :  vomit

Learn More about bring up

  1. See words that rhyme with bring up Thesaurus: All synonyms and antonyms for bring up Spanish Central: Translation of bring up Nglish: Translation of bring up for Spanish speakers Britannica English: Translation of bring up for Arabic speakers

Seen and Heard

What made you want to look up bring up? Please tell us where you read or heard it (including the quote, if possible).

show hide

Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

WORD OF THE DAY

culminate

play

to reach the highest or a decisive point

Get Word of the Day daily email!

TRENDING NOW

  1. bona fide Made in good faith

  2. surrogate mother From TMZ to the dictionary.

  3. zealot A fanatical partisan

  4. stonewall to be uncooperative, obstructive, or evasive

  5. scurrilous Containing obscenities, abuse, or slander

SEE ALL

BROWSE DICTIONARY

bring up

WORD GAMES

Take a 3-minute break and test your skills!

  • istock-refers-to-this-as-a-tumble-of-strawberries-which-sounded-pretty-nice-to-us
  • Which is a synonym of garner?
Name That Thing

Test your visual vocabulary with our 10-question challenge!

TAKE THE QUIZ
Dictionary Devil

Test Your Knowledge - and learn some interesting things along the way.

TAKE THE QUIZ

Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Words at Play

alt-5953d7f904965
'Patriot' Hasn't Always Been Positive

The word has roots in a religious rivalry

alt-5949565fc7d94
'Negging' Moves Beyond The Bar

Not just for pick-up artists anymore

alt-5947fc40f1b5c
In Tech, What Does 'K' Mean?

A buzzword with a long history.

alt-5951697e1a410
When To Use 'Specious' vs. 'Spurious'

These similar words are not interchangeable

Ask the Editors

payday
How Often Is 'Biweekly'?

Don't get us started on 'bimonthly'

decimate-video
Is it wrong to use 'decimate' to mean 'destroy'?

Language changes

video-irregardless-grammar-peeve-blend-of-the-synonyms-irrespective-and-regardless
Irregardless

It is in fact a real word (but that doesn't mean you should use it).

video-moose-goose-weird-plurals
Weird Plurals

One goose, two geese. One moose, two... moose. What's up with that?

Word Games

istock-refers-to-this-as-a-tumble-of-strawberries-which-sounded-pretty-nice-to-us
June 2017 Words of the Day Quiz

Summer's first WOTD quiz.

Take the quiz
alt-5941ad7527c3c
Yearbook Superlatives Quiz

Is that your picture under "Largest Vocabulary"?

Take the quiz
Name That Thing
Name That Thing

Test your visual vocabulary with our 10-question challenge!

Take the quiz
Dictionary Devil
Dictionary Devil

The dictionary has been scrambled—can you put it back together?

Play the game
Examples: bring up in a Sentence