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Glite Dictionary
to crank up to eleven

to crank up to eleven

8.6
To increase something to its highest or most extreme level
  • phrasal verb
  • Slang
translation icon : llevar al máximo
  • The angst of Toy Story 2 cranked up to eleven; it's all a little too predictable in places.

Examples

  • To impress the judges, the chef had to crank up to eleven the flavors in her signature dish.

  • I was wearing my magic headphones and had Radiohead cranked up to eleven on my iPhone.

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  • The audio engineer decided to crank up to eleven the volume to enhance the concert experience.

  • When the team faced a tough opponent, they needed to crank up to eleven their performance to secure a win.

Synonyms

to max out
vsto crank up to eleven
  • Informal
27 4.9

Reach the highest level or amount

is about pushing for an extreme level rather than mere capacity
to push it to the limit
vsto crank up to eleven
  • Informal
1 7.2

Use all your energy and take big risks to test your skill

focuses on raising intensity of something rather than testing endurance
up to eleven
vsto crank up to eleven
  • Informal
1 9.2

To make something as intense or dramatic as possible

is about increasing something to its possible maximum or extreme

Antonyms

to reduce
∞ 1.6

To make something smaller in amount, size, or number

How Extreme

to crank up to eleven
  • Slang
8.6
to crank up
  • Informal
39 3.8

Surface Forms

crank up to eleven infinitive
cranked up to eleven past
cranked up to eleven past participle
cranking up to eleven present participle
cranks up to eleven third person singular

Morphology

crank + up + to + eleven

The combination 'crank' (turn) + 'up' (increase) clearly signals raising intensity, so a learner who knows those words can infer the idea of making something louder or stronger. However, 'to eleven' functions as a cultural numeric hyperbole (from amplifier dials) meaning 'to the extreme' rather than a literal level, so the full emphatic/idiomatic force is not fully predictable for a B1 learner without prior exposure.

Etymology

The phrase crank up to eleven comes from a rock movie where a band's amp had a volume knob marked eleven, and the musicians would crank up the sound past the usual top. So, the phrase now means 'turn something up as far as possible' or 'take it to an extreme'.