spruce up

phrasal verb

spruced up; sprucing up; spruces up

: to make (someone or something) look cleaner, neater, or more attractive

We spruced up the room with a fresh coat of paint.

I need to spruce myself up a bit before we go out to dinner.

Did you know?

titivate, spruce up, smarten up, or spiff up?

Titivate, spruce, smarten, and spiff all mean "to make a person or thing neater or more attractive." Titivate often refers to making small additions or alterations in attire ("titivate the costume with sequins and other accessories"), but it can also be used figuratively (as in "titivating the script for Broadway"). Spruce up is sometimes used for cosmetic changes or renovations that give the appearance of newness ("spruce up the house with new shutters and fresh paint before trying to sell it"). Smarten up and spiff up both mean to improve in appearance often by making more neat or stylish ("the tailor smartened up the suit with minor alterations"; "he needed some time to spiff himself up for the party"). The origins of titivate are uncertain, but it may have been formed from the English words tidy and renovate.

Examples of spruce up in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Pacifica Enterprises, which holds the lease for the 7-acre park, has been regularly investing millions of dollars each year to keep the park spruced up while also regularly adding new attractions. —Lori Weisberg, San Diego Union-Tribune, 19 Apr. 2024

Indianapolis Public Schools middle school students across the district will soon have athletic facilities on par with those at the high schools, as the district applies some of the money earned through its capital referendum to spruce up campuses. —Caroline Beck, The Indianapolis Star, 10 Apr. 2024

That hasn’t deterred some shoppers from making their way to an H&M store or its online marketplace to spruce up their spring looks. —Francisco Velasquez, Quartz, 27 Mar. 2024

In her 1920s Nashville Tudor, designer Catherine Branstetter used it to spruce up her downstairs powder room. —Kelsey Mulvey, Southern Living, 25 Mar. 2024

Keep scrolling to discover more furniture, rugs, shelves, and decor to spruce up tiny homes and small apartments. —Cai Cramer, Peoplemag, 11 Apr. 2024

Players took that to its natural next step, sprucing up their style away from the field. —Evan Webeck, The Mercury News, 23 Mar. 2024

Check out our editors' favorites for sprucing up their bathroom spaces while curbing water spillage. —Jennifer Hussein, Allure, 4 Mar. 2024

Walnut casework spruces up the area and adds bountiful space to stash bath linens. —Mary Cornetta, Better Homes & Gardens, 4 Mar. 2024