punched up; punching up; punches up
: to give energy or forcefulness to
jokes added to punch up a speech
Examples of punch-up in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Alan Sepinwall, Rolling Stone, 4 Jan. 2025
Toward the end there’s a punch-up, with several players involved.
—David Szalay, The New Yorker, 1 Dec. 2024
Mackensy Lunsford, The Tennessean, 2 July 2025
Meet the boutique law firm punching up at Trump
Gupta Wessler has just 11 lawyers and four partners, but that hasn’t stopped the boutique law firm from taking on the Trump administration.
—Ella Lee, The Hill, 21 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for punch-up
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Noun
Often, when shows do crossovers, the writers on one will do punch-up for their characters on the other.
—Alan Sepinwall, Rolling Stone, 4 Jan. 2025
Toward the end there’s a punch-up, with several players involved.
—David Szalay, The New Yorker, 1 Dec. 2024
Verb
The sushi served at Kase is unfussy and sometimes spare, punched up with ingredients meant not to obscure the quality of the seafood.
—Mackensy Lunsford, The Tennessean, 2 July 2025
Meet the boutique law firm punching up at Trump
Gupta Wessler has just 11 lawyers and four partners, but that hasn’t stopped the boutique law firm from taking on the Trump administration.
—Ella Lee, The Hill, 21 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for punch-up
Cite this Entry
“Punch-up.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/punch-up. Accessed 21 Jul. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share