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

If your summer plans include backyard gatherings and days spent lounging in the sun, now’s the perfect time to spruce up your outdoor space for less. —Mia Huelsbeck, People.com, 9 July 2025

In 1965, as Long Beach began sprucing up the harbor, a dredging operation piled up a landfill at the edge of the Pike. —Los Angeles Times, 4 July 2025

After so many visitors, the two facilities could use some new furniture and other sprucing up. —Carol Cain, Freep.com, 3 July 2025

When Pope Francis visited Manila in 2017, Natori provided the linens, towels and bathrobe for His Holiness and helped to spruce up the accommodations during his four-day stay. —Rosemary Feitelberg, Footwear News, 18 June 2025

Rhymes for spruce up

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