knocking up

verb

present participle of knock up, British
as in waking
to cause to stop sleeping I asked the clerk at the hotel to knock me up at 7:00 a.m.

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

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 knocking up 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 knocking up
  1. waking
  2. awakening
  3. awaking
Verb
  • The band blasted into a machine-gun pace, waking the entire crowd.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 7 Aug. 2026
  • Drinking coffee immediately after waking may spike cortisol, causing stress, energy crashes, and disrupted sleep.
    — Erin Hooker Published, Better Homes & Gardens, 4 Aug. 2026
Definition of waking
Verb
  • While the Atlantic tropics are awakening from their recent slumber, the Pacific continues to churn out storms.
    — Doyle Rice, USA Today, 10 Aug. 2026
  • But the procedure goes wrong, apparently awakening suppressed memories of another life.
    — Declan Gallagher, Entertainment Weekly, 7 Aug. 2026
Definition of awakening
Verb
  • In Hocus Pocus, Dani, her older brother Max (Omri Katz) and his crush Allison (Vinessa Shaw) have to save the children of Salem, Massachusetts after accidentally awaking the witch Sanderson sisters from their 300-year slumber.
    — Glenn Garner, Deadline, 25 Oct. 2025
  • Tirso Ornelas’ seventh-inning grand slam triggered a late-game awaking as Triple-A El Paso beat host Sugar Land 13-2 on Wednesday.
    — Jeff Sanders, San Diego Union-Tribune, 18 Sep. 2025
Definition of awaking

Browse Nearby Words

knocking together
knocking up
knock off
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Knocking up.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/knocking%20up. Accessed 13 Aug. 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 salvo

See Definitions and Examples »

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

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

7 Pairs of Commonly Confused Words

Is that lie 'bald-faced' or 'bold-faced'?

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

Why is '-ed' sometimes pronounced at the end of a word?
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

Words from the 'Odyssey'

The Longest Long Words List

It's a Scorcher! Words for the Summer Heat

12 Lovely and Unusual Words for the Natural World

'Gaslighting,' 'Woke,' 'Democracy,' and Other Top Lookups
See More

Popular

See More

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

Words from the 'Odyssey'

The Longest Long Words List
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
fridge-magnet-letters
Drop a Letter Quiz August 2026 Drop a letter from a word to make a totally diffe...
See All