chew up
verb
Simple meaning
To chew so as to make something pulpy or tangled.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
choouhpSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈtʃuˈʌp
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
transitiveslang
To upset or bother (someone).
usslangtransitive
To defeat utterly.
transitive
To chew so as to make something pulpy or tangled.
idiomatictransitive
To ruin (especially land), by digging.
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: To upset or bother (someone).
Used this way, chew up is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It turns up most in everyday conversation and social media or informal writing contexts.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Very casual
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Playful
- Usage feel
- Playful and informal
Where it naturally appears
- Everyday conversation
- Social media/informal writing
Usage note
Slang: natural in speech and messages between friends, but out of place in school, work or published writing.
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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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.