Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

big up

Word Rarity Common

Frequency: Zipf frequency 5.59 in modern English

Syllables: big up
IPA

10

Scrabble Score

5

Letters

1

Syllables

5

Unique Chars

Meaning

verb

To increase one's muscle mass.

Informal; Transitive verb

verb

Informal

verb

To behave confidently and proudly.

Slang; Transitive verb

verb

To proclaim or exaggerate the importance of; to promote.

Slang; Transitive verb

noun

Significant respect or acclaim.

Slang

Example Sentences

"She was bigged up—had a weight-lifter's rippling arms."
"Relatively simple multicellular forms had already existed for a hundred million years when the Cambrian began: the explosion had a long fuse, and during this earlier fizzling life experimented with various ways to big up."
"I want to big up my bro on the mic."
"They're trying to big themselves up to be more than they are."
"In a keynote speech, attended by over 2,000 people, Steve Jobs spent the first 10 minutes bigging up the move to Intel chips."
"Some say of me, "There's Adrian again in the media, bigging himself up."

Usage

Inflected Forms

bigs up (present, singular) bigging up (participle, present) bigged up (participle, past) bigged up (past) big upped (participle, past) big upped (past, rare) big ups (plural)

Phrases

strength training shout out word up

Frequently Paired Words

strength training shout out word up

Synonyms

build up bulk up pump iron work out enlarge overemphasize overplay play up sell big up cut it fat exaggerate

Questions

What does big up mean?: To increase one's muscle mass.

How to pronounce big up

Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “big up”.
Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling () so you know which sounds to aim for.
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Repeat and practice — Say “big up” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.