worked up

adjective

: emotionally aroused : excited

Examples of worked up in a Sentence

What is she so worked up about? He got all worked up over the football game.
Recent Examples on the Web Thankfully, the star worked up the courage to try again. Rania Aniftos, Billboard, 20 Jan. 2023 But 36 years and much personal growth later, Chozen finally worked up the (liquid) courage to put his feelings into action after a gentle push from LaRusso himself in the fifth season's penultimate episode. Ew Staff, EW.com, 13 Dec. 2022 Back in 2009, Ernie Niemi, an environmental and economic development consultant, worked up a forecast for how climate change would affect New Mexico’s economy at various points in the future. Lydia Depillis, New York Times, 10 Dec. 2022 How Jess, a cosmetologist by trade, worked up the nerve to do home brewing when the Army transferred Rich to Colorado. Gustavo Arellano, Los Angeles Times, 22 Nov. 2022 In microseconds, Shakespeare and Company’s invisible AI, lurking on some server, has worked up a précis on the available copies, including prices and comps from recent auctions. Jason Guriel, Longreads, 10 Nov. 2022 Based on it, Britten and his lover Peter Pears, the tenor who inspired so much of his vocal music, worked up an opera scenario, and the writer Montagu Slater turned it into a libretto. Dallas News, 21 Oct. 2022 Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Dressed in street clothes, Keldon Johnson worked up a sweat on the Spurs bench in their 102-99 loss to Orlando on Thursday night. Tom Orsborn, San Antonio Express-News, 7 Oct. 2022 Mourning Sagan and racing against the clock, the Contact team worked up until the premiere date in August 1997 to finish the film. Vulture, 29 June 2022

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'worked up.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

1835, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of worked up was in 1835

Dictionary Entries Near worked up

Cite this Entry

“Worked up.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/worked%20up. Accessed 19 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

worked up

adjective
: emotionally excited
all worked up over the football game

More from Merriam-Webster on worked up

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