grow up

verb

grew up; grown up; growing up; grows up

intransitive verb

1

a

: to grow toward or arrive at full stature or physical or mental maturity : to progress from childhood toward adulthood

growing up intellectually

grew up in the city

also : to become an adult

She wants to be a doctor when she grows up.

b

: to stop thinking or behaving in a childish way

He should grow up and accept his responsibilities.

2

: to begin to exist and develop as time passes

A number of cities grew up along the river.

Synonyms

• grow
• progress
• develop

Examples of grow up in a Sentence

everyone has to grow up at some point in their lives

Recent Examples on the Web

Another friend was an evangelical pastor who grew up in the Jim Crow South believing that Black people were subhuman. —John Blake, CNN Money, 26 Oct. 2025

And his biological mother, who is from the same small town where Wasmer grew up, was homeless. —Laura Bauer, Kansas City Star, 26 Oct. 2025

Those vets ceded the stage in Game 1 to Trey Yesavage, a 22-year-old who grew up about 45 miles north of Philadelphia. —Andy McCullough, New York Times, 25 Oct. 2025

Baiamonte, 62, grew up in Miami and attended Gulliver Prep, and developed an interest in basketball and announcing at a young age. —Anthony Chiang, Miami Herald, 25 Oct. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1535, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Rhymes for grow up

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

Kids Definition

grow up

verb

: to grow toward or reach full mental and physical growth