blow up

To explode, or destroy something with an explosion.

• The bomb blew up.
• A gas leak caused the house to blow up.
• They blew up the old bridge last week.

How to use it: blow something up (The soldiers blew up the bridge.)

Similar words: explode, detonate

Common phrases: blow up suddenly, blow up bridges

To make a picture bigger, or show a closer view of part of it.

• Please blow up the picture.
• She blew the photo up to check his face.
• Can we blow this image up without losing detail?

How to use it: blow something up (Blow the image up so we can read the sign.)

Similar words: enlarge, magnify

Opposites: shrink, reduce

Common phrases: blow up photos, blow up something

To become very popular or widely known in a short time.

• Her video blew up overnight.
• The song is blowing up on social media.
• Nobody expected the little cafe to blow up so quickly.

Similar words: take off, go viral

Common phrases: blow up online, blow up overnight

To make a picture or part of it bigger so you can see it more clearly.

• Can you blow up this photo?
• I blew the image up to see the writing.
• They are blowing up old photographs for the exhibition.

How to use it: blow something up (Could you blow this photo up?); blow something up to a size (We blew the picture up to poster size.)

Similar words: enlarge, magnify

Opposites: shrink, reduce

Common phrases: blow up pictures, blow up something

To make something seem more serious or important than it really is.

• Do not blow up a small problem.
• The papers blew the incident up into a scandal.
• She keeps blowing every disagreement up into a crisis.

How to use it: blow something up into something (They blew a small mistake up into a major scandal.)

Similar words: exaggerate, inflate

Opposites: downplay

Common phrases: blow up something, blow up problems