spruce up

phrasal verb

spruced up; sprucing up; spruces up

: to make (someone or something) look cleaner, neater, or more attractive

We spruced up the room with a fresh coat of paint.

I need to spruce myself up a bit before we go out to dinner.

Did you know?

titivate, spruce up, smarten up, or spiff up?

Titivate, spruce, smarten, and spiff all mean "to make a person or thing neater or more attractive." Titivate often refers to making small additions or alterations in attire ("titivate the costume with sequins and other accessories"), but it can also be used figuratively (as in "titivating the script for Broadway"). Spruce up is sometimes used for cosmetic changes or renovations that give the appearance of newness ("spruce up the house with new shutters and fresh paint before trying to sell it"). Smarten up and spiff up both mean to improve in appearance often by making more neat or stylish ("the tailor smartened up the suit with minor alterations"; "he needed some time to spiff himself up for the party"). The origins of titivate are uncertain, but it may have been formed from the English words tidy and renovate.

Examples of spruce up in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The image experts at parent company PepsiCo are sprucing up the Mountain Dew messaging, emphasizing the outdoors with a makeover coming in summer 2025. —Mike Snider, USA TODAY, 9 Oct. 2024

That morning, Garten had been trying to decide which of two old cake recipes to spruce up with a new topping and include in her next cookbook. —Molly Fischer, The New Yorker, 2 Sep. 2024

For the past few days, a dozen volunteers had been sprucing up the place, renovating the kitchen and repainting the walls with bright colors. —D. T. Max, The New Yorker, 23 Sep. 2024

Looking to spruce up your entryway just in time for the fall season? —Alicia Geigel, Better Homes & Gardens, 20 Sep. 2024