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to spice

to spice

38 3.6
To make something more interesting and lively
  • verb
  • /spaɪs/
  • Informal
translation icon : animar
  • Imagine how a video sequence including this movement and sound would spice up your show!

Examples

  • I hope that Miles can do something to spice it up starting now in post.

  • ...and nothing like a little variety to spice things up.

  • It's time to spice things up a bit.

  • We're going to spice things up, all right?

  • We can spice things up.

  • Nothing like a little danger to spice up your love life.

    Fiction book (1991)
  • Thinking about how to spice up your copyright lessons?

    Academic text (2009)
  • Find other ways to spice up your marriage, talk to your husband about your intimacy.

    Blog text (13)
  • To be honest, I didn't really think that Liz was interested in Tracy's husband, but dinner was getting a little bit boring, so I thought I'd spice things up a little bit.

  • To surprise her friends, she decided to spice the party with some fun games.

Synonyms

to spice up
vsto spice
  • Informal
23 3.9

To make something more interesting or exciting

has the same meaning and use as this phrase
to enliven
vsto spice
6 4.1

Make something more active and interesting

is a more casual or playful way to add excitement
to salt
vsto spice
5 7.4

To add small interesting details to something to make it more lively

means making things more interesting in a broader, not tiny, way
to liven
vsto spice
4 3.6

To make something more exciting or interesting

is used more often in everyday speech than formal terms
to sauce
vsto spice
2 4.6

To put a liquid on food or make something more lively

is the broader action of adding interest beyond literal toppings
to ginger
vsto spice
1 7.0

To add a spicy root to food or to make something more lively

is the general act of adding interest rather than a literal flavor
to vivify
vsto spice
  • Formal
1 8.2

To make something more lively or bright

leans more toward visual vividness than simple added interest

Antonyms

721 1.0

Not interesting and making you feel tired or impatient

182 1.3

Not interesting or lively

Phrasal Verbs

to spice up
  • Informal
23 3.9

To make something more interesting or exciting

2 2.8

To add spices or herbs to food to make it taste better

Compounds

3 1.4

A stand or shelf that holds jars of spices in a kitchen

sugar and spice
  • Informal
1 3.5

Very nice and friendly in a sweet, gentle way

1 1.8

A cake made with warm spices like cinnamon and nutmeg

1 2.5

A sweet baked treat flavored with warm spices like cinnamon

A ground Chinese spice mix made from star anise, fennel, pepper, cloves and cinnamon

A group of islands in eastern Indonesia famous for nutmeg and cloves

7.1

A small bush from eastern North America with leaves that have a strong smell and red or yellow berries

A tree that makes bark or berries used to flavor food

8.8

A tree that grows by the coast with aromatic leaves, fruit like olives, and very hard wood

Has the warm smell of spices like cinnamon or cloves

How Lively

to spice
  • Informal
38 3.6
to liven
4 3.6
to leave it be
  • Informal
1 5.1

Surface Forms

spice infinitive
spiced past
spiced past participle
spicing present participle
spices third person singular

Etymology

To spice something up follows the same idea from species 'a special kind', so to spice up a show or routine is to make it more exciting or special.