light up

phrasal verb

1

of a light : to become lit : to begin shining

All of the lights on the display suddenly lit up.

—often used figuratively to express interest or pleasure

His eyes/face lit up when she walked in the room.

2

informal, of a telephone : to show a light indicating that someone is calling

When the DJ announced a contest, the phones lit up.

3

informal : to light a cigarette

I can't wait to light up after work.

Examples of light up in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The Wildcats like to push the pace and light up the scoreboard, having been held under 73 points just seven times all season. —Tobias Bass, The Athletic, 23 Mar. 2025

Existential explorations light up your consciousness while the sun fuses with Neptune. —USA TODAY, 19 Mar. 2025

Dense clumps of primordial hydrogen and helium left over from the big bang collapsed under their own gravitational weight, igniting thermonuclear chain reactions at their cores that would light up the universe for the first time. —Conor Feehly, Scientific American, 4 Mar. 2025

While Léo and his pals nervously poke fun at the snogging all around them, the boy has trouble reconciling his feelings for a girl named Lucie, who makes his own lips light up like a neon flamingo. —Peter Debruge, Variety, 2 Mar. 2025

Rhymes for light up

• backup
• blowup
• breakup
• buildup
• checkup
• cleanup
• holdup
• hookup
• lineup
• lockup
• makeup
• markup