grow up

English

Etymology

Dissimilated from Middle English upgrowen.

Pronunciation

• Audio (AU)

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Verb

grow up (third-person singular simple present grows up, present participle growing up, simple past grew up, past participle grown up)

1. (intransitive) To mature and become an adult.

   What do you want to be when you grow up?

   • 2021 December 29, Stephen Roberts, “Stories and facts behind railway plaques: Evesham (1870)”, in RAIL, number 947, page 58:

     I'm in the place where I grew up, where my alma mater is.

2. (intransitive) To start to develop; to flourish.

   Socialism grew up in the industrial cities.

3. (intransitive, idiomatic) To stop acting as or like a child (often used as an imperative interjection).

   Will you grow up please, and stop making silly faces?

Synonyms

• (to mature): age, upgrow; see also Thesaurus:to age
• (to start to develop): blossom, prosper

Derived terms

• grown up

Translations

to mature and become an adult

• Arabic: كَبُرَ (ar) (kabura), ْنَشَأ (našaʔ)

  Hijazi Arabic: كِبِر (kibir)

• Azerbaijani: böyümək (az), başa-boya çatmaq, yetişmək (az)
• Catalan: créixer (ca), fer-se gran
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 長大／长大 (zh) (zhǎngdà)

• Czech: vyrůst (cs) pf, dospět (cs) pf
• Danish: vokse op, blive voksen
• Dutch: opgroeien (nl)
• Esperanto: plenkreski, plenaĝiĝi, elkreski
• Finnish: kasvaa aikuiseksi
• French: grandir (fr)
• Galician: crecer (gl), medrar (gl)
• German: erwachsen (de), aufwachsen (de)
• Greek: μεγαλώνω (el) (megalóno)
• Hebrew: גָּדַל (he) (gadál)
• Hungarian: felnő (hu)
• Ido: adulteskar (io)
• Irish: éirigh suas
• Italian: crescere (it)
• Japanese: 成長する (ja) (せいちょうする, seichō-suru), 大人に成る (おとなになる, otona ni naru)
• Latin: alescō, adolescō
• Ngazidja Comorian: uhulia (with an adverbial phrase), uwangushia (with an adverbial phrase)
• Norwegian: vokse opp, bli voksen
• Old English: geweaxan
• Persian: بالیدن (fa) (bâlidan) (literally), رشدادن (fa)
• Polish: dorastać (pl)
• Portuguese: crescer (pt)
• Russian: расти́ (ru) impf (rastí), выраста́ть (ru) impf (vyrastátʹ), вы́расти (ru) pf (výrasti)
• Serbo-Croatian: òdrāsti (sh) pf, о̀дра̄сти pf, odrástati (sh) impf, одра́стати impf
• Slovak: dospieť pf, vyrásť pf
• Spanish: crecer (es)
• Swedish: växa upp (sv), bli vuxen
• Telugu: పెరుగు (te) (perugu)
• Turkish: büyümek (tr), yetişmek (tr)

to flourish

• Finnish: kehittyä (fi)
• Hungarian: kifejlődik (hu)
• Italian: fiorire (it), attecchire (it), crescere (it), svilupparsi (it)
• Portuguese: crescer (pt)
• Swedish: växa fram (sv), växa upp (sv), blomstra (sv)

idiomatic: to stop acting as a child

• Catalan: créixer (ca)
• Danish: vokse op, blive voksen
• Finnish: kasvaa aikuiseksi, aikuistua (fi)
• Hungarian: felnőttként viselkedik
• Italian: comportarsi da adulto
• Portuguese: crescer (pt)
• Spanish: madurar (es)
• Swedish: växa upp (sv)
• Turkish: büyümek (tr)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• French: ^{(please verify)} grandir (fr)

Interjection

grow up

1. (imperative) Used to criticize childish behavior, especially that considered unreasonable for one's age.

   You're giggling because I said "butt"? Grow up, seriously.

   Grow up! The Bible is nothing more than a astrotheological allegory for things like the Sun!

Anagrams

• upgrow