bang up
verb · adjective
Simple meaning
Damage or destroy as if by violence.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
banguhpSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈbæˈŋʌp
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
verb
Damage or destroy as if by violence
“The teenager banged up the car of his mother.”
transitiveinformal
To put someone in prison, or into their individual cell.
adjective
idiomaticoften hyphenated
Good, superior, excellent.
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Damage or destroy as if by violence
Used this way, bang up is a common word with a clearly unfavourable pull. It carries more force than its gentler alternatives. It turns up most in personal or emotional discussion and literature or storytelling contexts.
- Emotional tone
- Negative
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Strong
- How common
- Common
- Connotation
- Serious and weighty
- Usage feel
- Everyday but emotionally strong
Where it naturally appears
- Personal/emotional discussion
- Literature/storytelling
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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Words can change meaning depending on context.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.