Blow Up
2 meanings · select one to explore
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Meaning 1 of 3
Definition
To inflate something
Example sentence
"I need to blow up the balloons before the party."
Real video usage
Three clips showing this meaning in natural speech.
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Common collocations
Natural word pairings to memorize.
- blow up a balloon
- blow up an air mattress
- blow up a tire
- blow up a beach ball
Separable usage
Can the object split the verb? Compare correct vs incorrect.
- She blew up the tire.
- She blew the tire up.
Meaning 1 of 3
Definition
Explode, destroy by exploding
Example sentence
"The bomb blew up the building"
Real video usage
Three clips showing this meaning in natural speech.
Common collocations
Natural word pairings to memorize.
- blow up a building
- blow up a bridge
- blow up a car
- blow up a bomb
- blow up the lab
Separable usage
Can the object split the verb? Compare correct vs incorrect.
- They blew up the building. They blew the building up.
Meaning 1 of 3
Definition
To become very angry
Example sentence
"He blew up when he found out I crashed his car."
Real video usage
Three clips showing this meaning in natural speech.
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This one also has clam up!
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Common collocations
Natural word pairings to memorize.
- blow up at someone
- suddenly blow up
- blow up over a mistake
- blow up during an argument
- completely blow up
Separable usage
Can the object split the verb? Compare correct vs incorrect.
- (cross)He blew up during the meeting.
- He blew during the meeting up.
Meaning 1 of 3
Definition
Sudden popularity
Example sentence
"Her TikTok account really blew up overnight"
Real video usage
Three clips showing this meaning in natural speech.
Don’t see captions? Click the CC button on the video to turn them on.
Don’t see captions? Click the CC button on the video to turn them on.
Don’t see captions? Click the CC button on the video to turn them on.
Common collocations
Natural word pairings to memorize.
- song/video/account blows up
- blow up on social media
- blow up overnight
- blow up on TikTok
- blow up online
Separable usage
Can the object split the verb? Compare correct vs incorrect.
- The video blew up online.
- (cross)The video blew online up.