to bring up
- phrasal verb
- /brɪŋ ʌp/
- Abused and abandoned by her mother, Angel has been brought up in a series of foster homes.
- bring up children
- parents bring up
- brought up to believe
That's the way I've been brought up, even outside the football.
- That's the way I've been brought up, even outside the football.
- But I mean, I was brought up as a Baptist Christian.
- And my main character in Mania was brought up as a Jehovah's Witness.
- Yeah, I was brought up in the Democratic family.
- But they'll, they were, they were firmly like brought up and bred in, in Nigeria.
- OK, so, so I was brought up in a really humble household, right.
- You know, I think where I've been brought up it's it's dog eat dog.
- Kyoto, Kyoto Span were born and brought up in India and he was born here.
- You know, it's we, we, we were brought up in such a such a great way.
- On a lot of occasions, I was brought up to always trust the police.
- So for me, Alfie was brought up hard.
- He brings up her two boys as as his own.
- I'm maybe that comes from the way we're, we're brought up in Liverpool.
- I guess I've learned that whatever we did to bring up these children
- The children have been brought up to see these as Mars.
Examples
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That's the way I've been brought up, even outside the football.
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She'd pretty much brought up her little sister on her own.
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So I was brought up by my dad with my older brother.
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It's just the way I was brought up.
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Is this how you were brought up?
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I was brought up by a man of science.
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Yeah, I was brought up in the Democratic family.
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But I mean, I was brought up as a Baptist Christian.
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We were talking about the alienation of young children who are brought up in technological environments.
Academic text (2001) -
She was brought up in a loving environment, where her parents valued education.
Synonyms
To care for and help a child, animal, or plant grow
To care for and encourage someone or something to grow
To care for a child until they become an adult
To raise and care for a child until they become an adult
Antonyms
How Caring
Surface Forms
Morphology
There is a clear compositional link: 'bring' (move/cause to come) + 'up' (to a higher position) creates a spatial metaphor of raising someone, which can cue the idea of promotion. However, the occupational/promotion sense is a metaphorical extension rather than a literal motion, so a B1 learner might infer it in context but would not always predict this specific usage without exposure.
Etymology
Bring up comes from the idea of raising a child from baby to adult: to bring a child up is to lift, care for and teach them until they grow, so the phrase means 'to raise' or care for a child.