blow up

Questions about blow up

What is another word for blow up?

It depends which blow up you mean. In the sense “cause to burst with a violent release of energy”, the synonyms are explode, detonate, set off. Across all 8 senses there are 32 distinct synonyms, and they are not interchangeable with each other — this page lists them under the sense each one belongs to.

What is the opposite of blow up?

The recorded antonym is reduce. Opposites are sense-specific too: this page shows which meaning each one is the opposite of, because a word rarely has a single opposite that holds for all of its senses.

Why are the synonyms for blow up split into groups?

Because blow up carries 8 recorded senses and each has its own set of substitutes. A single flat list would put words from unrelated meanings side by side with nothing to tell them apart, which is exactly how a writer picks the wrong one. The grouping comes from WordNet's synsets, not from an editorial judgement of ours.

Where do the synonyms for blow up come from?

From Princeton University's WordNet, a lexical database maintained by lexicographers since 1985. A synonym here means a word form that shares a synset with this word — a set of forms interchangeable in one recorded context. Nothing on this page is generated by a language model.

Other views of blow up

• Full entry for blow upAll 8 senses, with examples, usage labels, syllables and pronunciation.
• Rhymes for blow upWhether this word can be rhymed at all — it is not in the pronouncing dictionary.
• Thesaurus homeHow WordNet synsets work, and the collections built for synonym work.