screw up the/one's courage
idiom
: to make oneself brave enough to do something difficult
I finally screwed up the courage to tell them that I was quitting.
Examples of screw up the/one's courage in a Sentence
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The stalking may just have been a way to bide time and screw up the courage for a dinner invite, but after their meal, Burt’s Outie might not be wholly innocent or trustworthy.
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Proma Khosla, IndieWire, 22 Feb. 2025
When Judi gets sick with cancer, the two of them screw up the courage to struggle to love and search for the truth that the novel suggests exists, though disorderly, in all great loves.
—Globe Staff, BostonGlobe.com, 4 Jan. 2021
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Proma Khosla, IndieWire, 22 Feb. 2025
When Judi gets sick with cancer, the two of them screw up the courage to struggle to love and search for the truth that the novel suggests exists, though disorderly, in all great loves.
—Globe Staff, BostonGlobe.com, 4 Jan. 2021
Cite this Entry
“Screw up the/one's courage.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/screw%20up%20the%2Fone%27s%20courage. Accessed 3 Nov. 2025.
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