knock up

Definition of knock upnext
British
as in to wake
to cause to stop sleeping I asked the clerk at the hotel to knock me up at 7:00 a.m.

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of knock up The pair collided with such force that Dumoulin got knocked up about two feet in the air before landing hard on his padded backside. — Sean Keeler, Denver Post, 27 Apr. 2026 Meanwhile, while Miranda busies herself with building a pageant empire, her husband Ray, a pill-popping nurse, has knocked up the 18-year-old granddaughter of one of his hospice patients. — Ethan Shanfeld, Variety, 28 Aug. 2025 Julia, worried, maintains that she’s not knocked up. — Kimberly Roots, TVLine, 15 Aug. 2025 With 200 hp worth of empty space to play with before knocking up against the 600-hp V12 Verado, Mercury is dialing up the overall output of the V10 range by adding a new 425-hp variant as the flagship of the family. — New Atlas, 12 Aug. 2025 See All Example Sentences for knock up
Recent Examples of Synonyms for knock up
Verb
  • The medications work by blocking certain chemical messengers in the part of the brain that regulates body temperature and manages sleep/wake cycles, according to the guidance.
    — Shannon Firth, NPR, 16 Oct. 2026
  • Your body’s stress hormone peaks naturally about an hour after waking, and layering caffeine on top amplifies the spike.
    — Hanna Wickes, Kansas City Star, 15 Oct. 2026
Verb
  • Nobody wrote a Time magazine cover about the awakening consciousness of the autopilot.
    — Stephen Messer, Fortune, 16 Oct. 2026
  • But this morning an air of foreboding awakened me, and my little fishing barometer was already descending past the 29 mark.
    — Gerald R. Hunter, Outdoor Life, 15 Oct. 2026
Verb
  • Ukrainians awoke on Wednesday to find that their military had been restricted in its use of Starshield, the American satellite service undergirding swaths of the nation’s defensive infrastructure and weaponry.
    — Timothy Nerozzi, The Washington Examiner, 15 Oct. 2026
  • The Pope's surgery, which the doctors said was successful, lasted about 90 minutes, after which Leo awoke normally and, following a brief period of observation, returned to his room on the hospital's 10th floor.
    — Scott Detrow, NPR, 13 Oct. 2026

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Cite this Entry

“Knock up.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/knock%20up. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.

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