COOK UP Synonyms: 40 Similar and Opposite Words

cook (up)

verb

Definition of cook (up)

as in to devise

to create or think of by clever use of the imagination cooked up a scheme to get out of doing the dishes

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Recent Examples of Synonyms for cook (up)

Verb

David Lowery One of America’s most original directors returned this year with this underrated movie following an aging pop diva (Anne Hathaway) who reunites with her former costume designer (Michaela Coel) to devise a look for her comeback.

— Brian Tallerico, Vulture, 15 Aug. 2026
But state and local planners devised a way to answer commuter’s growing concerns by converting Independence into a freeway.

— DJ Simmons, Charlotte Observer, 15 Aug. 2026

Definition of devise

Verb

Israel's Ministry of Construction and Housing issued a tender for constructing several compounds with more than 1,200 homes in total in an open tract of land east of Jerusalem.

— Khaled Wassef, CBS News, 21 Aug. 2026
The group has constructed more than 820 all-terrain wheelchairs; fabricated 900 orthotics and prosthetics; and distributed more than 740 hearing aids.

— Allie Torgan, CNN Money, 21 Aug. 2026

Definition of construct

Verb

In it, Bugliosi lays out the prosecutorial theory — one concocted to put away a man for murder who didn’t actually commit the crimes — that Manson was trying to jump-start a race war, called Helter Skelter.

— Elisabeth Garber-Paul, Rolling Stone, 16 Aug. 2026
The removal of Maelor, however, snowballed into this moment where that character’s absence didn’t allow for that horrific book moment to be realized, so another set of reasons was concocted.

— Paul Tassi, Forbes.com, 10 Aug. 2026

Definition of concoct

Verb

In 1994, as Chinese reformer Deng Xiaoping’s market liberalization unleashed a heady entrepreneurial spirit across the People’s Republic, Wang quit his job at a vocational college and invented the world’s first automatic soymilk maker.

— Charlie Campbell, Time, 18 Aug. 2026
In effect, Beijing turned against Washington the same extraterritorial tactic Washington had invented to control chips.

— Mark Leonard, Foreign Affairs, 18 Aug. 2026

Definition of invent

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cooks (up)

cook (up)

cool

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“Cook (up).” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/cook%20%28up%29. Accessed 21 Aug. 2026.

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Synonyms of cook (up)

verb

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