work up
verb
work up is a verb meaning “To raise; to excite; to stir up” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). It is spelled W-O-R-K-U-P.
What does work up mean?
verb
- 1
To raise; to excite; to stir up.
He worked up the public's passions to rage.
- 2
To develop.
work up a sweat
- 3
To give (a patient) a general medical examination to assess health and fitness.
- 4
obsoleteTo use up (material, etc.).
- 5
obsoleteTo set at an irksome or needless task.
noun
- 1
Alternative form of workup.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Forms of work up
- works up present, singular, he/she/it
- working up participle, present
- worked up participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Words people confuse with work up
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Also written: workup (one word or two).
Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
Work up in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense to develop:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| Spanish | desarrollar, levantar, dar, abrir |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does work up come from?
Deverbal from work up.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).