DRUM UP Synonyms: 40 Similar and Opposite Words

drum up

verb

Definition of drum up

as in to devise

to create or think of by clever use of the imagination anyone who drums up a better way of doing this tedious task will make a fortune

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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 drum up The ultra-hardliners have used nightly rallies and their control of state television, known by the acronym IRIB, to drum up opposition to negotiations. — ABC News, 2 Aug. 2026 Both candidates spent the post-primary period drumming up support ahead of the Democrats’ gathering in San Diego. — Ben Paviour, Sacbee.com, 2 Aug. 2026 But the pardon wouldn’t protect him from a state prosecution or from any perjury charge that could be drummed up from his testimony now. — Amy Davidson Sorkin, New Yorker, 1 Aug. 2026 However, Kohberger’s petition to reverse his plea and request a trial could potentially drum up further information on a motive. — Jordana Comiter, PEOPLE, 31 July 2026 See All Example Sentences for drum up

Recent Examples of Synonyms for drum up

Verb

So in classic spy fashion, the group devised secret codes to communicate with one another, hidden in plain sight, so the KGB would be none the wiser — using series of notes embedded in their sheet music.

— Maura Fox, San Diego Union-Tribune, 22 Aug. 2026
Organized crime operations from several cities, including Chicago, New York and Detroit, had established control of casinos up and down the Vegas Strip and devised schemes to skim percentages of the cash under the noses of state regulators.

— Elizabeth Wolfe, CNN Money, 21 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

Browse Nearby Words

drums up

drum up

drunk

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Style

“Drum up.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/drum%20up. Accessed 25 Aug. 2026.

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Synonyms of drum up

verb

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