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

Warren tore her other ACL at the end of her college soccer career, recovered and relocated to Salt Lake City to commit to speed skating full-time, only to need another surgery a year later to clear up issues from the previous procedure. —Dana O’Neil, CNN Money, 14 Feb. 2026

Most notably, the Chiefs will need to clear up their cap situation and also get some shopping done in free agency, while likely landing a potential starting running back sometime in March. —Jesse Newell, New York Times, 12 Feb. 2026

That is surely an obstacle to clearing up code violations. —Michael Powell, The Atlantic, 11 Feb. 2026

Valentine's Day will likely be rainy during the day and clear up just in time for dinner; however, one forecast model is keeping rain in the area all night. —Lauren Bostwick, CBS News, 9 Feb. 2026

Rhymes for clear up

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