well up
verb · adjective
Simple meaning
To accumulate within one, to the point of overwhelming one.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
wehluhpSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈwɛˈlʌp
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
figurativeby extensionchiefly of an emotion
To accumulate within one, to the point of overwhelming one.
intransitive
To gradually or steadily flow upwards or outwards so as to begin to fill or overflow something.
adjective
colloquial
Well versed; well acquainted (in or on).
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: To accumulate within one, to the point of overwhelming one.
Used this way, well up is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Moderate
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- No strong connotation
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
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.