1,400 new words in our dictionary! — Parasocial, glow-up, promposal & more
1,400 new words in our dictionary! — More

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
  • That there’s a wonderful wedge salad to brighten up the plate is just icing on the cake.
    — Condé Nast, Condé Nast Traveler, 16 Sep. 2026
  • The background star gradually brightens and then fades as the two stars move out of alignment.
    — Thomas Fauchez, The Conversation, 14 Sep. 2026
Definition of brighten
Verb
  • Bunch said that one of his goals in the head role was to encourage Americans to embrace ambiguity and recognize that America is a complicated, multifaceted nation.
    — Brittney Melton, NPR, 9 Sep. 2026
  • The stated purpose would be to encourage more people to fill out the forms without fear of having their privacy violated.
    — Bart Jansen, USA Today, 9 Sep. 2026
Definition of encourage
Verb
  • The main room in the second floor has 11-foot-four-inch ceilings, with a cutout looking up into the third floor.
    — Adriane Quinlan, Curbed, 11 Sep. 2026
  • Now, with social media, an intern could look up everyone on Instagram, says Pechman, and figure our the lay of the land.
    — Carole Horst, Variety, 11 Sep. 2026
Definition of look up
Verb
  • These feelings of awe inspired by sequoia trees led to a material change in environmental policy.
    — Fiction Non Fiction, Literary Hub, 10 Sep. 2026
  • In 2000, the Millennium Prize Problems was established to inspire work towards solving these complex problems, offering a $1 million prize for the first correct solution to each problem.
    — Karina Tsui, CNN Money, 9 Sep. 2026
Definition of inspire
Verb
  • Why the dead girl’s computer glows with an unnatural brightness whenever the lights turn off?
    — David Ehrlich, IndieWire, 10 Sep. 2026
  • Along the way, we’ve been told to drink liters a day for energy, glowing skin, weight loss and even cancer prevention.
    — Hanna Wickes, Sacbee.com, 8 Sep. 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
  • By 2016, Kanarek, who was then living in Greensboro, North Carolina, with Goodwin, a contractor, had revived a childhood enthusiasm for riding and taken up dressage.
    — Ian Parker, New Yorker, 14 Sep. 2026
  • Omarzai scored an unbeaten half-century – his second in T20s – and put on 83 runs with Nabi to revive the innings.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 13 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 16 Sep. 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!

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

Listen to the pronunciation of facsimile

See Definitions and Examples »

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

Why do we use apostrophes to show possession?

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

The Exceptions of '-s' and '-es' Plurals

A Who’s Who Regarding ‘Who’s’ and ‘Whose’

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

Popular in Wordplay

See More

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

Back to School Vocabulary

Words from the 'Odyssey'

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of

12 Lovely and Unusual Words for the Natural World
See More

Popular

See More

Why do we use apostrophes to show possession?

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

Back to School Vocabulary
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
funny guinea pig in glasses reading a book
Challenging Words You Should Know Vol 2 Words to the wise
See All