work up

1. 1.

   form or accumulate steadily

   “Resistance to the manager's plan built up quickly”

   “Pressure is building up at the Indian-Pakistani border”

   Synonymsbuild upbuildprogress

   Broaderdevelop
2. 2.

   develop

   “we worked up an as of an appetite”

   Synonymsget up

   Broadergrow
3. 3.

   bolster or strengthen

   “We worked up courage”

   “build up confidence”

   “ramp up security in the airports”

   Synonymsbuild upbuildramp up

   Broaderincrease
4. 4.

   come up with

   “His colleagues worked out his interesting idea”

   “We worked up an ad for our client”

   Synonymswork out

   Broaderdevelop

Questions about work up

What does work up mean?

work up means "form or accumulate steadily". That is the primary sense; the word has 4 in total, listed in full on this page.

What is another word for work up?

Close synonyms include build up, build, progress, get up, build up. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is work up a common word?

work up is banded "Familiar" — widely understood, used when the subject calls for it. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.