Synonyms of work up

work up

verb

as in to develop

to produce or bring about especially by long or repeated effort

spent years working up a period novel that was historically accurate in every detail

Synonyms & Similar Words

• develop
• forge
• create
• grind (out)
• work out
• carve (out)
• craft
• bring forth
• thrash (out)
• achieve
• hammer out
• construct
• generate
• devise
• throw up
• carry out
• compose
• turn out
• form
• engineer
• churn out
• crank out
• accomplish
• manufacture
• cook (up)
• model
• shape
• invent
• effect
• tailor
• conceive
• originate
• hatch
• mint
• fashion
• cobble (together or up)
• concoct
• contrive
• fabricate
• frame
• bring off

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• destroy
• tear down
• dismantle
• demolish
• ruin
• wreck
• raze
• undo
• unmake

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of work up

He feels emotionally ambushed, and what plays out is as if Marriage Story were an absolute chucklefest, as Lestat gets increasingly worked up and jealous over Louis’s relationships with other men. — Rebecca Alter, Vulture, 15 June 2026

Church’s numinous-sun-over-still-water routine had begun to look a bit like a shtick, equally applicable to scenes of the Hudson or those worked up from 20-year-old sketches of South America. — Susan Tallman, The Atlantic, 13 June 2026

Stroll on the Eastern Promenade to work up an appetite and take in views of Casco Bay. — Jacqueline Dole, Travel + Leisure, 13 June 2026

These surveys drop a lot of hard, time-consuming work up front. — Jordan Minor, PC Magazine, 12 June 2026