pick-me-up
noun
Simple meaning
A drink, often an alcoholic one, taken as a stimulant or sometimes as a hangover cure.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
pikmuhpSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈpɪkməp
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.
noun
Something that improves one's mood.
informal
A drink, often an alcoholic one, taken as a stimulant or sometimes as a hangover cure; a restorative, tonic or bracer.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B2 · Upper Intermediate (estimated)
- Formality
- Technical
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: A drink, often an alcoholic one, taken as a stimulant or sometimes as a hangover cure; a restorative, tonic or bracer.
Used this way, pick-me-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
- Casual
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Playful
- Usage feel
- Casual and conversational
Where it naturally appears
- Everyday conversation
- Social media/informal writing
Nearby words
- bracer , much rarer in everyday speech
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: something that improves one's mood
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What Does It Mean Here?
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.