Dictionary

blow-up en · ADJ

Pronunciation

• (US) audio

Etymology

Deverbal from blow up.

Meanings

1. (not-comparable) Inflatable; able to be blown up.
   • The kids played with a blow-up sea-monster in the pool.

Deriveds

blow-up doll

blow-up en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• (US) audio

Etymology

Deverbal from blow up.

Meanings

1. (informal) An explosion (physical or emotional).
   • 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 April 26, Jordan Valinsky, “Bud Light sales are falling, but distributors say they’re sticking by the brand”, in CNN:
   • 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. 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:
   • I heard Jen's blow-up from the next room.
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.

Forms