knock up

British
as in to wake
to cause to stop sleeping I asked the clerk at the hotel to knock me up at 7:00 a.m.

Synonyms & Similar Words

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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 knock up Meanwhile, while Miranda busies herself with building a pageant empire, her husband Ray, a pill-popping nurse, has knocked up the 18-year-old granddaughter of one of his hospice patients. Ethan Shanfeld, Variety, 28 Aug. 2025 Julia, worried, maintains that she’s not knocked up. Kimberly Roots, TVLine, 15 Aug. 2025 With 200 hp worth of empty space to play with before knocking up against the 600-hp V12 Verado, Mercury is dialing up the overall output of the V10 range by adding a new 425-hp variant as the flagship of the family. New Atlas, 12 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for knock up
Verb
  • Resident Armando Vierra, an Army veteran, said the explosion woke him up and shook his house, nearly five miles from the plant.
    Craig Shoup, Nashville Tennessean, 11 Oct. 2025
  • Reju isn’t the first company that has sought to wake New Yorkers up to a problem that’s literally mounting, if somewhat out of sight thousands of miles away.
    Jasmin Malik Chua, Sourcing Journal, 10 Oct. 2025
Verb
  • Los Angeles in the fall awakens the senses.
    Ryma Chikhoune, Footwear News, 11 Oct. 2025
  • In addition to awakening her creativity, the potion also unleashes a number of dark monsters that inhabit her subconscious, one of which is her mother, who appears transformed into a hairy monster that Mia is forced to confront.
    Andreas Wiseman, Deadline, 10 Oct. 2025
Verb
  • The ghosts have awoken, though.
    Chris Kirschner, New York Times, 8 Oct. 2025
  • At the Nir Oz kibbutz, Ohad (Miki Leon), wife Batsheva (Rotem Sela) and three children are awoken by alarms and seek refuge in their home’s shelter room, which unfortunately has a broken door, forcing a predictable and harrowing outcome.
    Daniel Fienberg, HollywoodReporter, 7 Oct. 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Knock up.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/knock%20up. Accessed 16 Oct. 2025.

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