clear up

phrasal verb

cleared up; clearing up; clears up

1

of weather or the sky : to change so that there are no clouds, fog, etc.

The sky cleared up after the rain.

It's cloudy now, but it's clearing up gradually.

2

of the skin : to become free of marks or spots

My skin cleared up when I started using the cream.

3

: to go away

My symptoms cleared up once I started using the cream.

4

British : to make an area clean or tidy

Let's clear up before we leave.

Examples of clear up in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Established under the Carter administration in 1980 and now largely funded through dedicated taxes reinstated by the Biden administration’s infrastructure law, the Superfund program is used for clearing up polluted land and handling environmental crises such as oil spills and natural disasters. —David Lightman, Sacbee.com, 29 Sep. 2025

Most of us have heard of pimple patches, those circular bandage-like patches to clear up a zit. —Margherita Bassi, Popular Science, 24 Sep. 2025

But things cleared up enough for the other drivers to complete some laps. —Jonathan M. Gitlin, ArsTechnica, 22 Sep. 2025

Cashen was prescribed a topical steroid, which quickly cleared up all instances of the rash. —Tereza Shkurtaj, PEOPLE, 21 Sep. 2025

Rhymes for clear up

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