bring up

verb

brought up; bringing up; brings up

transitive verb

1

: to bring (a person) to maturity through nurturing care and education

2

: to cause to stop suddenly

3

a

: to bring to attention : introduce

b

computers : to cause (something, such as a file or picture) to appear on a computer screen

… you can make any picture that it displays into wallpaper by right-clicking with the arrow over the art to bring up a box with a "Set as wallpaper" choice.

—Barry Popik

4

: vomit

intransitive verb

: to stop suddenly

Synonyms

• breed
• foster
• nourish
• nurse
• raise
• rear

Examples of bring up in a Sentence

it takes an immense commitment and a lot of love to bring up a child properly

I hate to bring this up, but we're running short of money.

Recent Examples on the Web

The snowstorm brought up to 3 feet of new snowfall to parts of the Sierra Nevada between Sunday, March 30, and Tuesday, April 1, according to the National Weather Service. —Camila Pedrosa, Sacbee.com, 5 Apr. 2025

At the same point, this has also brought up discrimination concerns, as not all female employees feel comfortable voicing this need to their manager if that individual is male. —Newsweek Staff, MSNBC Newsweek, 4 Apr. 2025

To bring up help at any point in time, press control, shift, and h keys together. —Steph Spadaccini, People.com, 4 Apr. 2025

It also could be brought up in opening statements — as well as during sentencing, of course, according to Medwed. —Alex Brizee, Idaho Statesman, 3 Apr. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined at transitive sense 1

Rhymes for bring up

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

Kids Definition

bring up

verb

1

: to bring to maturity through care and education

bring up a child

2

: to bring to attention : introduce

I hate to keep bringing this up

Medical Definition

bring up

transitive verb

(ˈ)briŋ-ˈəp 

: vomit