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.
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Recent Examples of knock up
Ask Omar, the bartender, to knock up a spritz from his mini vermuteria.
—
Condé Nast, Condé Nast Traveler, 5 Apr. 2026
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
Condé Nast, Condé Nast Traveler, 5 Apr. 2026
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
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Where will all these sciolistic refugees from woke America go if that largesse dries up?—
Kapil Komireddi,
New Yorker,
10 Apr. 2026
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Kawamura has also given us a genuinely genius take on the waking existential crisis that is 21st century living.—
David Fear,
Rolling Stone,
10 Apr. 2026
Verb
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And following a tradition that dates back to the Apollo program, the crew was awakened each day by a different song, picked from a list that the astronauts had selected beforehand.—
Jackie Wattles,
CNN Money,
11 Apr. 2026
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The morning after giving birth, June awakens in her bed to find her baby gone; Bethel and Beauty are at the kitchen table in tears.—
Meredith Maran,
Los Angeles Times,
8 Apr. 2026
Verb
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Anna awakes in her chic apartment with a to-die-for view, makes a cappuccino, puts on designer duds and takes the upscale dog for a walk.—
Jocelyn Noveck,
Boston Herald,
10 Apr. 2026
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The Boys give it a test run by killing a new supe named Rockhard, a spoof of Marvel’s The Thing, and wounding Soldier Boy (Jensen Ackles), whom Homelander awoke from cryostasis.—
Jordan Moreau,
Variety,
8 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Knock up.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/knock%20up. Accessed 17 Apr. 2026.
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