puffing (up)

verb

present participle of puff (up)
as in rolling up

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Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for puffing (up)
  1. rolling up
  2. blowing up
  3. building up
  4. increasing
Verb
  • Private equity has been rolling up local HVAC, plumbing and electrical businesses, stitching together fragmented operators into regional platforms.
    — Renana Ashkenazi, Forbes.com, 25 June 2026
  • Sometimes, that means rolling up her sleeves with the best of them.
    — Bianca Betancourt, CNN Money, 9 June 2026
Definition of rolling up
Verb
  • Amal Clooney was spotted at the Milan airport in an unexpected travel style that had the InStyle group chat blowing up.
    — Eva Thomas, InStyle, 16 July 2026
  • And, more recently, Ukraine started blowing up Russian energy facilities.
    — David Goldman, CNN Money, 14 July 2026
Definition of blowing up
Verb
  • And because some of these inflation drivers affect multiple sectors, costs are building up throughout the supply chain.
    — Elizabeth Canales, The Conversation, 16 July 2026
  • The former second-round pick is suddenly one of the Lakers’ primary summer league players and hopes to use the experience as an important stepping stone, building up his game while also establishing a leadership voice.
    — Assistant Sports Editor, Los Angeles Times, 6 July 2026
Definition of building up
Verb
  • Too fearful of discrimination to go to hospitals for antiretroviral drugs, many transgender people have stopped taking them — significantly increasing their risk of transmission.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 23 July 2026
  • OpenAI disclosed the incident in a blog post on Tuesday, a stunning announcement that is certain to set off alarm bells across the industry about the increasing power of AI models and the risk of them going rogue.
    — Andrew Nusca, Fortune, 22 July 2026
Definition of increasing
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.

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puffing
puffing (up)
puffs
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Cite this Entry

“Puffing (up).” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/puffing%20%28up%29. Accessed 25 Jul. 2026.

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