BLOWING UP Synonyms: 115 Similar and Opposite Words

blowing up

verb

present participle of blow up

as in flaring (up)

to become very angry she blew up at everybody after a very long and very bad day

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

as in exploding

to break open or into pieces usually because of internal pressure the building blew up because of a gas leak

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

as in shattering

to cause to break open or into pieces by or as if by an explosive blew up the biggest rocks and then cleared them away

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

as in cracking up

to praise or publicize lavishly and often excessively the advertisement blows the new soda up to the point where I half expected to be transported to a higher level of consciousness

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Example Sentences

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.

Recent Examples of blowing up Amal Clooney was spotted at the Milan airport in an unexpected travel style that had the InStyle group chat blowing up. — Eva Thomas, InStyle, 16 July 2026 And, more recently, Ukraine started blowing up Russian energy facilities. — David Goldman, CNN Money, 14 July 2026 The Joker, dressed as a nurse, blowing up Gotham General Hospital. — Randy Myers, Mercury News, 14 July 2026 Curry Barker’s world and the way YouTubers are blowing up the box office. — Josh Weiss, Forbes.com, 2 July 2026 Ripley was honored for a heroic effort to halt the advance of North Vietnamese forces by blowing up a crucial bridge in 1972. — Arkansas Online, 20 June 2026 Navarrette is blowing up right now. — Lisa Lockwood, Footwear News, 17 June 2026 SpaceX has been blowing up Starship rockets left and right, and the space nerds seem to be cheering them on. — Eric Berger, ArsTechnica, 29 May 2026 And to be thrown into now this separation and exploding, blowing up her family this way. — Derek Lawrence, Entertainment Weekly, 21 May 2026

Recent Examples of Synonyms for blowing up

Verb

While that shutdown ostensibly ended in mid-November, a partial government shutdown dragged on through April, snarling the Department of Homeland Security and causing long delays and confusion at airports across the country.

— Drew Pittock, USA Today, 23 July 2026
Just like in the darnkess cave, the snarling machine gun of thoughts—unanswered emails, to-dos, and angst about my 17 year old’s plans to travel the world alone—slowly fell silent.

— Tim Neville, Travel + Leisure, 20 July 2026

Definition of snarling

Verb

Balloons float above an exploding castle, a giant peeks from behind the bushes and wizards throw flames in the foreground.

— Phillip Molnar, San Diego Union-Tribune, 24 July 2026
Unsurprisingly, this took a few attempts to get right—resulting in three vacuum tubes exploding.

— Andrew Paul, Popular Science, 23 July 2026

Definition of exploding

Verb

Successive heat waves that hit unusually early and hard this year, baking Europe with record-shattering high temperatures, have turned forests and scrublands into tinderboxes.

— Mark Carlson, Fortune, 25 July 2026
Schroeder mentioned another woman, 80, now an EVSA member, who was run down by an e-biker on April 16, 2024, shattering her leg, at the same location Jean was struck.

— Lincoln Anderson, New York Daily News, 25 July 2026

Definition of shattering

Verb

Mark Toothaker, a stallion sales manager for Spendthrift Farm in Lexington, Kentucky, was on the couch cracking up with his wife, Malory, about the whiffed field goal and consequential turnover.

— Kelly O'Grady, CBS News, 3 May 2026
The dogs were confused, not sure whether to attack or run for cover, and Susan was cracking up.

— Sid Evans, Southern Living, 18 Feb. 2026

Definition of cracking up

Verb

Leaders of the Maine Democratic Party are still working toward a process to replace Graham Platner, without angering his supporters.

— Dan Merica, Washington Post, 9 July 2026
The mayor floated the idea to place Williams on probation for six months, angering the city manager’s supporters in the crowd.

— Amanda Rosa, Miami Herald, 3 July 2026

Definition of angering

Verb

Brown says the firm also explored investing in an Israeli start-up developing underground munitions capable of tunneling beneath targets before detonating, but that deal ultimately fell through.

— Clara Molot, Vanity Fair, 22 July 2026
The video shows these drones flying into the Russian positions and detonating their payloads during the assault.

— Vikram Mittal, Forbes.com, 17 July 2026

Definition of detonating

Verb

On the contrary, Atlanta United, which started play in 2017, got the All-Star Game in its second year after smashing several attendance records.

— Kamran Nia July 23, Charlotte Observer, 23 July 2026
Worse still, scientists say orcas may be smashing into much smaller sunfish for fun.

— Mithil Aggarwal, NBC news, 23 July 2026

Definition of smashing

Verb

Creator Patrick Horvath and publisher IDW are announcing the title and giving a first look Saturday at a San Diego Comic-Con panel discussing horror in comics.

— Borys Kit, HollywoodReporter, 25 July 2026
On Friday, police released a photo of Jerry Saint Vil, 26, announcing he was wanted for murder and urging anyone with information on his whereabouts to contact the Miramar Police Department.

— Milena Malaver, Miami Herald, 25 July 2026