pump up

verb

pumped up; pumping up; pumps up

transitive verb

1

a

: to fill with enthusiasm or excitement

b

: to fill with or as if with air : inflate

2

: increase sense 1

Synonyms of pump up

• thrill
• excite
• turn on
• electrify

Examples of pump up in a Sentence

the crowd was pumped up by the band's rocking performance

that pop diva is trying to pump up album sales with an extended publicity tour

Recent Examples on the Web

Specifically, cold temperatures greatly favor reactions that pump up the amount of heavy water relative to everyday water. —Joseph Howlett, Scientific American, 24 Apr. 2026

Hugel, Diplo, and Gordo pump up the crowd at Coachella's Desert Nights Weekend 2 on April 19 in Indio, California. —Katie Hill, PEOPLE, 24 Apr. 2026

More often those concert performances help pump up a flashy, superficial look at an enigmatic artist whose closest connections were of the animal variety (Bubbles gets screen time; ditto a giraffe, a llama and a big snake). —Randy Myers, Mercury News, 23 Apr. 2026

Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is pumping up his reelection bid at age 80 by looking jacked in workouts that his critics say are more popular than the man himself. —ABC News, 22 Apr. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1791, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Rhymes for pump up

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