as in devised
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
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as in invented
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Recent Examples of trumped-up
Jay Nordlinger, National Review, 22 Nov. 2023
Erdogan’s government has thrown (or attempted to throw) a number of key political opponents into jail on what critics say are trumped-up, spurious charges.
—Ishaan Tharoor, Washington Post, 10 May 2023
Literary Hub, 19 Aug. 2025
Verb
The charge was clearly trumped-up, but Yundi was immediately taken off all Chinese stages and media and prevented from going abroad.
—Jay Nordlinger, National Review, 22 Nov. 2023
Erdogan’s government has thrown (or attempted to throw) a number of key political opponents into jail on what critics say are trumped-up, spurious charges.
—Ishaan Tharoor, Washington Post, 10 May 2023
Adjective
Although the woman-alien’s powers were trumped up to comedic effect, Estelle could not help but see that beneath its B-movie veneer, Devil Girl from Mars tapped into a looming anxiety that was palpable all around.
—Literary Hub, 19 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for trumped-up
Verb
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Ken Goldberg, a University of California, Berkeley professor, devised a novel solution to bridge this gap.—
Atharva Gosavi,
Interesting Engineering,
2 Sep. 2025
-
Einstein’s theory of relativity is one of the most mind-bending theories ever devised.—
Don Lincoln,
Big Think,
29 Aug. 2025
Verb
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To solve this problem, materials scientists at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore have concocted a new sunscreen recipe that spares the ocean’s vital microorganisms.—
Andrew Paul,
Popular Science,
4 Sep. 2025
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On paper, Dallas has the tools to do just that, but NBA insider Zach Buckley, of Bleacher Report, has concocted a trade proposal that sees the Mavericks strengthen their forward position.—
Ricardo Klein,
MSNBC Newsweek,
28 Aug. 2025
Adjective
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This is the same lineup, full of younger and mostly unproven players, that has kept the Rangers on the fringe of the wild card spot, a point of irritation among fans.—
Fort Worth Star-Telegram,
Fort Worth Star-Telegram,
8 Sep. 2025
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The 49ers answered the call despite fielding a young defense with a bunch of unproven players beyond Bosa and All-Pro linebacker Fred Warner.—
Michael-Shawn Dugar,
New York Times,
8 Sep. 2025
Verb
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As the fireline is constructed, inspected or reinforced, mappers record those details to adjust the containment percentage.—
CA WILDFIRE BOT,
Sacbee.com,
5 Sep. 2025
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The fabric is specifically constructed to be soft and stretchy for maximum comfort.—
Izzy Baskette,
PEOPLE,
4 Sep. 2025
Adjective
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Websites with unusually long browser names or a lack of searchable company representatives or contact information could be fraudulent.—
Tamia Fowlkes,
jsonline.com,
4 Sep. 2025
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Blount deposited money into the account until April 2022, when the bank shut it down and reversed over $70,000 worth of the fraudulent deposits, prosecutors said.—
Olivia Lloyd,
Miami Herald,
3 Sep. 2025
Verb
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And long before movie night was a thing, Mesoamericans apparently invented popcorn, too.—
SAVEUR Editors,
Saveur,
4 Sep. 2025
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During his doctoral work at MIT with Stephen Buchwald, Liu invented new catalysts that allowed complex molecules to be built from simple building blocks.—
Neetika Walter,
Interesting Engineering,
4 Sep. 2025
Adjective
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And while OpenAI’s defenders could chalk that up to an isolated or even made-up incident, within 24 hours of the GPT-5 launch Altman was doing damage control, seemingly caught of guard by the bad reception.—
Allison Morrow,
CNN Money,
14 Aug. 2025
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Because a lot of things on reality TV are made-up situations and scenarios to provoke reactions and all of that stuff.—
Ryan Morik,
FOXNews.com,
2 Aug. 2025
Adjective
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At Comedy Central, Colbert rose to prominence playing a slightly exaggerated version of Bill O’Reilly and other unapologetically mendacious Fox News pundits from the George W. Bush years.—
Alan Sepinwall,
Rolling Stone,
18 July 2025
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The true story reveals both how freedom of speech first came to be conceived of as a mechanism for truth, an antidote to falsehood, and the foundation of all liberty—and that, ironically, this new and powerful theory was itself a deliberately mendacious fiction.—
Fara Dabhoiwala,
Harpers Magazine,
4 June 2025
Cite this Entry
“Trumped-up.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/trumped-up. Accessed 9 Sep. 2025.
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