trump up

verb

Definition of trump upnext
as in to devise
to create or think of by clever use of the imagination parents who were always trumping up little projects for their children to do around the house

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 trump up The funding that currently pays state law enforcement overtime to trump up charges against those suspected. — Eleanor Dearman, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 14 Feb. 2026 Bass insisted the charges were trumped up. — Howard Cohen, Miami Herald, 1 Feb. 2026 He was forced to flee the country in the months following the election, due to trumped up conspiracy and terrorism charges presented by the government that would have led to decades in prison. — Flora Charner, CNN Money, 10 Jan. 2026 The crimes with which she has been charged are trumped up and her arrest is a cynical ploy by the junta headed by Senior General Min Aung Hlaing to cling onto power. — Kim Aris, Time, 7 Nov. 2025 See All Example Sentences for trump up
Recent Examples of Synonyms for trump up
  1. devise
  2. construct
  3. concoct
  4. invent
  5. drum up
Verb
  • Judge Kaplan gave the city two weeks to devise a plan for handing over the names.
    — Emma Seiwell, New York Daily News, 7 Nov. 2026
  • To avoid such pitfalls, researchers want to devise tests of introspection that can’t be gamed using outside information.
    — Ben Brubaker, Quanta Magazine, 4 Nov. 2026
Definition of devise
Verb
  • Its beauty is only rivalled by the bubbling powder-blue domes of nearby Süleymaniye Mosque, constructed by Mimar Sinan, a contemporary of Michelangelo.
    — Condé Nast, Condé Nast Traveler, 6 Nov. 2026
  • Amentum, by contrast, brings the nuclear safety protocols, systems engineering, and large-scale delivery management needed to construct actual industrial facilities.
    — Aman Tripathi, Interesting Engineering, 5 Nov. 2026
Definition of construct
Verb
  • An amalgam of the precise and the visionary, such as Turner alone could concoct.
    — Anthony Lane, New Yorker, 5 Nov. 2026
  • Churchill got the approval of Gilded Age showrunner and creator Julian Fellowes, as well as HBO head of drama Francesca Orsi and CEO Casey Bloys, and then concocted a way that the cameo could work without being too distracting to the audience.
    — Leigh Blickley, Entertainment Weekly, 2 Nov. 2026
Definition of concoct
Verb
  • With instant messaging yet to be invented, 11 am—the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month—was chosen to be the time when hostilities would officially cease in order to allow news of the armistice to reach the front lines.
    — Britannica Editors, Encyclopedia Britannica, 3 Nov. 2026
  • The Brick, invented in early 2023, is the latest attempt at limiting screen time and fighting phone addiction.
    — Jane Miller, Chicago Tribune, 3 Nov. 2026
Definition of invent
Verb
  • Still, any empathy that the series looks to drum up for him is limited by the fact that the character takes equality as an affront—Clive can’t feel tall without someone to stand over.
    — Inkoo Kang, New Yorker, 30 Oct. 2026
  • On the eve of the protests, pro-communist, anti-Israel groups are drumming up international publicity for the waterfront campaign.
    — Asra Q. Nomani, FOXNews.com, 29 Oct. 2026
Definition of drum up

Browse Nearby Words

trumps up
trump up
truncate
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Cite this Entry

“Trump up.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/trump%20up. Accessed 9 Nov. 2026.

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