Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

blow-up

Word Rarity Uncommon

Frequency: 4.58 in modern English

Syllables: blow-up
IPA

13

Scrabble Score

6

Letters

2

Syllables

6

Unique Chars

Meaning

adj

Inflatable; able to be blown up.

noun

An explosion (physical or emotional).

Informal

noun

An enlargement (e.g. of a photograph).

Informal

Example Sentences

"The kids played with a blow-up sea-monster in the pool."
"I heard Jen's blow-up from the next room."
"But BBD said that “several” wholesalers it spoke with said they are “waiting out the storm” — expecting the backlash to fade a few weeks following the initial controversy, as many similar blow-ups have in the past."
"How OpenAI resolves the blow-up at its highest levels may help show how well its competitors, in the race for human-level AI, can be expected to handle the deep contradictions in their work between progress and safety."
"Make a blow-up of the chart so we have more room to draw on it."

Etymology

Deverbal from blow up.

Usage

Informal

Inflected Forms

blow-ups (plural) blowup (alternative)

Phrases

blow-up doll

Questions

What does blow-up mean?: Inflatable; able to be blown up.
Where does blow-up come from?: Deverbal from blow up.

How to pronounce blow-up

Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “blow-up”.
Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling () so you know which sounds to aim for.
Play the audio — Click Play to hear reference audio for “blow-up”.
Repeat and practice — Say “blow-up” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.