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

The Wild and Stars were the next-best teams in the West, and Minnesota took out Dallas in the first round — because the NHL (still) has a (ridiculous) playoff system that pumps up division winners instead of the actual best teams. —John Shipley, Twin Cities, 14 May 2026

Council Speaker Julie Menin is on the right path to pumping up Fair Fares by increasing the income threshold to participate, making enrollment automatic and even eliminating the fare entirely for some folks. —New York Daily News Editorial Board, New York Daily News, 8 May 2026

To that, the verbose CEO pumped up HBO and streamer HBO Max as the real crown jewels in the WBD empire. —Dominic Patten, Deadline, 6 May 2026

But some gas stations have pumped up gas prices even higher. —Bill Hutchinson, ABC News, 30 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