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titivate, spruce up, smarten up, or spiff up?
Titivate, spruce, smarten, and spiff all mean "to make a person or thing neater or more attractive." Titivate often refers to making small additions or alterations in attire ("titivate the costume with sequins and other accessories"), but it can also be used figuratively (as in "titivating the script for Broadway"). Spruce up is sometimes used for cosmetic changes or renovations that give the appearance of newness ("spruce up the house with new shutters and fresh paint before trying to sell it"). Smarten up and spiff up both mean to improve in appearance often by making more neat or stylish ("the tailor smartened up the suit with minor alterations"; "he needed some time to spiff himself up for the party"). The origins of titivate are uncertain, but it may have been formed from the English words tidy and renovate.
Examples of spiff in a Sentence
Ella Field, Better Homes & Gardens, 18 Mar. 2025
More common now are those aftermarket shops that spiff up already luxurious cars, changing normal doors for gullwing versions, adding flaring fenders and bulging wheel arches, and plastering the interior in any hue of leather one might imagine.
—Ars Technica, 28 Feb. 2025
The new owners earmarked $2 million out of a $7 million initial renovation spend to spiff up the shoreline-hugging Ocean Point Golf Course.
—Mike Dojc, Forbes, 4 Nov. 2024
Until Kelly is fired off the car business and commissioned by the Nixon administration (via a shadowy CIA-type figure played by Woody Harrelson) to bring her advertising smarts to NASA to spiff up its public image before a divided America.
—Ryan Lattanzio, IndieWire, 9 July 2024
See All Example Sentences for spiff
Cite this Entry
“Spiff.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/spiff. Accessed 30 Mar. 2025.
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