spruce up
phrasal verb
Did you know?
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 spruce up in a Sentence
Caley Sturgill, Southern Living, 24 Feb. 2025
The big picture: New Orleans has spent months sprucing up, working through a to-do list hundreds of items long.
—Chelsea Brasted, Axios, 7 Feb. 2025
Circle to Search can listen for audio sources to determine the name of a song—yet another long-available feature getting spruced up for the AI age.
—Julian Chokkattu, WIRED, 22 Jan. 2025
The developers pledged to distance any structures at least 80 feet from Lon Stephenson Road, maintain and spruce up the property’s landscaping, route most of its traffic off Forest Hill Drive, and provide a site plan detailing the future layout of the property.
—Jaime Moore-Carrillo, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 15 Jan. 2025
See All Example Sentences for spruce up
Cite this Entry
“Spruce up.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/spruce%20up. Accessed 3 Mar. 2025.
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