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 of grow up

• grow
• progress

Examples of grow up in a Sentence

everyone has to grow up at some point in their lives

Recent Examples on the Web

The Moreno brothers, who grew up in Puebla, Mexico, did not invent birria or its deployment on tortillas gilded in beef fat. —Ligaya Mishan, New York Times, 11 May 2026

The high production values and frequent genre-hopping were inspired by the sketch-comedy duo Key and Peele, whom Barker grew up watching religiously. —Alex Barasch, New Yorker, 11 May 2026

Children grow up, adults age, people come in and exit for various reasons. —R. Eric Thomas, Chicago Tribune, 10 May 2026

But in hindsight, all my friends that grew up with successful parents are all the ones that are addicted to dope and can’t get it together. —Josh Crutchmer, Rolling Stone, 10 May 2026

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