buck up

verb

Definition of buck upnext
1
as in to brighten
to become glad or hopeful buck up, kids, it's not so bad as you're making it out to be

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in to encourage
to fill with courage or strength of purpose a surprise presidential visit to buck up the troops

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

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 buck up Signal flares shot into the social media sky are meant to jumpstart conversations with coaches needing to plug holes or buck up slouching fan bases. — Brian Davis, Houston Chronicle, 2 Jan. 2026 While waiting for help, stay bucked up inside your vehicle. — Anna Kleiber, jsonline.com, 15 Oct. 2025 Defense gonna have to buck up yet again. — Joe Nguyen, Denver Post, 21 Sep. 2025 And then, over the course of the six episodes, Julie does encourage him to buck up at a little bit. — Lily Ford, HollywoodReporter, 25 July 2025 See All Example Sentences for buck up
Recent Examples of Synonyms for buck up
  1. brighten
  2. encourage
  3. look up
  4. inspire
  5. glow
  6. bear up
  7. revive
Verb
  • If those plans were to pass, the fleet could brighten the night sky so much that astronomical observations around the world might become impossible, critics say.
    — Tereza Pultarova, Space.com, 28 Sep. 2026
  • Draperies offer a visual divide, and natural sunlight pours through the windows to brighten the space.
    — Heidi Finley, Charlotte Observer, 25 Sep. 2026
Definition of brighten
Verb
  • Partnership is the guiding motif of the World Soundtrack Awards’ Film Music Days, where live performances will give cult films bold new scores and industry mixers encourage emerging composers and filmmakers to find their creative match.
    — Ben Croll, Variety, 30 Sep. 2026
  • The breakthrough came after Arnold Schwarzenegger encouraged Figure to melt the robots.
    — Aamir Khollam, Interesting Engineering, 30 Sep. 2026
Definition of encourage
Verb
  • Initially accused of possessing methamphetamine and cocaine, Evans pleaded guilty to illegally using his department computer to look up license plate numbers for a friend, his attorney said in a statement Thursday.
    — Kendrick Calfee, Kansas City Star, 1 Oct. 2026
  • Owners who never look up will discover their roof through a stain on a bedroom ceiling.
    — Hanna Wickes, Miami Herald, 1 Oct. 2026
Definition of look up
Verb
  • After living in the City of Lights for more than a decade, the designer said he was drawn to its features, which informed his palette that runs from sky blues to Seine greens, via tones inspired by its typical stone buildings.
    — Lily Templeton, Footwear News, 1 Oct. 2026
  • Find more long cardigans inspired by Stewart at Amazon below.
    — Nicol Natale, PEOPLE, 30 Sep. 2026
Definition of inspire
Verb
  • Acupressure targets specific points, including spots roughly a finger’s length below your pupils and beside your nose, which NuFace says can promote a glowing complexion by improving circulation.
    — Samantha Agate, Kansas City Star, 1 Oct. 2026
  • Frøya takes a botanical route to glow and tone instead, leaning on sea buckthorn and rosehip instead.
    — Miami Herald, Miami Herald, 1 Oct. 2026
Definition of glow
Verb
  • It can also be used as a bench, bearing up to 355 pounds.
    — Caitlyn Martyn may earn a commission if you buy through our referral links. This content was created by a team that works independently from the Fox newsroom., FOXNews.com, 11 Aug. 2025
  • In 1970, the average Chinese woman was expected to bear up to six children throughout her lifetime.
    — Micah McCartney, Newsweek, 22 Jan. 2025
Definition of bear up
Verb
  • Founding members Scherzinger, Wyatt and Roberts revived PCD earlier this year following a brief reunion as a quintet in 2019.
    — Gil Kaufman, Billboard, 28 Sep. 2026
  • The full cycle of forming a spore and then reviving it came to nearly 10 billion ATP molecules, one of the most expensive things a bacterium ever does.
    — Canan Karakoç, The Conversation, 28 Sep. 2026
Definition of revive

Browse Nearby Words

bucks up
buck up
bucolic
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Buck up.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/buck%20up. Accessed 4 Oct. 2026.

Copy Citation
Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

Do You Need a New Language Peeve?

More Commonly Mispronounced Words

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

'A' or 'an'? What about before 'h'? An Indefinite Article Guide

Why is '-ed' sometimes pronounced at the end of a word?
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

7 Great Ways to Say 'Great'

The Longest Long Words List

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

The Words of the Week - Oct. 2

12 Lovely and Unusual Words for the Natural World
See More

Popular

See More

Do You Need a New Language Peeve?

7 Great Ways to Say 'Great'

The Longest Long Words List
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
name tags
Words Named After People Quiz Find out who’s behind "leotard," "morphine," an...
See All