blow up

/bloʊ əp/

/bləʊ əp/

Other forms: blew up; blowing up; blows up

Definitions of blow up

1. verb

   fill with gas or air
   synonyms: inflate

   types:

   reflate

   inflate again

   billow, heave, surge

   rise and move, as in waves or billows

   type of:

   expand

   make bigger or wider in size, volume, or quantity
2. verb

   to swell or cause to enlarge, "Her faced puffed up from the drugs"
   synonyms: puff, puff out, puff up

   type of:

   intumesce, swell, swell up, tumefy, tumesce

   expand abnormally
3. verb

   make large
   “blow up an image”

   synonyms: enlarge, magnify

   antonyms:

   reduce

   make smaller

   type of:

   increase

   make bigger or more
4. verb

   exaggerate or make bigger
   synonyms: amplify, expand, inflate

   types:

   puff up

   make larger or distend

   type of:

   increase

   make bigger or more
5. verb

   add details to
   synonyms: aggrandise, aggrandize, dramatise, dramatize, embellish, embroider, lard, pad

   types:

   glorify

   cause to seem more splendid

   type of:

   amplify, exaggerate, hyperbolise, hyperbolize, magnify, overdraw, overstate

   to enlarge beyond bounds or the truth
6. verb

   cause to burst with a violent release of energy
   synonyms: detonate, explode, set off

   types:

   fulminate

   cause to explode violently and with loud noise

   dynamite

   blow up with dynamite

   type of:

   change integrity

   change in physical make-up
7. verb

   burst and release energy as through a violent chemical or physical reaction;"the bomb detonated at noon"
   synonyms: detonate, explode
8. verb

   get very angry and fly into a rage
   synonyms: blow a fuse, blow one's stack, combust, flip one's lid, flip one's wig, fly off the handle, go ballistic, have a fit, have kittens, hit the ceiling, hit the roof, lose one's temper, throw a fit

   type of:

   rage

   feel intense anger