blow up

phrasal verb

Word Forms

present tense
I/you/we/they	blow up
he/she/it	blows up
present participle	blowing up
past tense	blew up
past participle	blown up

1
intransitive/transitive if something blows up, or if someone blows something up, it explodes and is destroyed
Terrorists had threatened to blow up the embassy.
The boiler blew up, wrecking the whole house.
Synonyms and related words
To destroy, or to be destroyed with an explosion
blow up
explode
blow apart
2
transitive to fill something with air or gas
We blew up lots of balloons and hung them around the room.
Synonyms and related words
To fill a thing or place with liquid or air
inflate
pump up
blow up
3
intransitive if a storm or strong wind blows up, it suddenly starts
The race had to be cancelled when the storm blew up.
Synonyms and related words
What storms can do
blow itself out
blow over
blow up
4
intransitive if a serious argument or problem blows up, it begins suddenly
A political row has blown up over the minister’s remarks.
Synonyms and related words
To start to exist or happen
start
begin
arise
5
intransitive to suddenly become angry and shout at someone
blow up at:
She just blew up at me.
Synonyms and related words
To express anger
blow up
flare
fume
6
transitive to make a photograph bigger
They had blown up the picture to make a huge poster of his face.
Synonyms and related words
To take and develop photographs
blow up
capture
come out
7
blow up in someone’s faceinformalif your plans blow up in your face, they do not happen as you expected and cause a lot of problems
Synonyms and related words
To cause problems for someone or something
let down
hold back
embarrass