blow-up

See also: blowup and blow up

English

Etymology

Deverbal from blow up.

Pronunciation

• Audio (US):

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Adjective

blow-up (not comparable)

1. Inflatable; able to be blown up.

   The kids played with a blow-up sea-monster in the pool.

Derived terms

• blow-up doll

Noun

blow-up (plural blow-ups)

1. (informal) An explosion (physical or emotional).

   I heard Jen's blow-up from the next room.

   • 2023 April 26, Jordan Valinsky, “Bud Light sales are falling, but distributors say they’re sticking by the brand”, in CNN‎^[1]:

     But BBD said that “several” wholesalers it spoke with said they are “waiting out the storm” — expecting the backlash to fade a few weeks following the initial controversy, as many similar blow-ups have in the past.

   • 2023 November 25, Richard Waters, John Thornhill, “Tech’s philosophical rift over AI”, in FT Weekend (Big Read section), London: The Financial Times Ltd., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 6:

     How OpenAI resolves the blow-up at its highest levels may help show how well its competitors, in the race for human-level AI, can be expected to handle the deep contradictions in their work between progress and safety.

2. (informal) An enlargement (e.g. of a photograph).

   Make a blow-up of the chart so we have more room to draw on it.

Alternative forms

• blowup

Anagrams

• Publow, upblow