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Glite Dictionary
to ham it up

to ham it up

4 7.4
Act in a silly, exaggerated way to make people laugh
  • phrasal verb
  • /hæm ɪt ʌp/
  • Informal
translation icon : exagerar
  • She loves to ham it up during family gatherings, often pretending to be a famous singer.
  • ham it up for the audience
  • ham it up for the camera
  • ham it up a little

And she was like walking the stage, like, like real, like hamming it up.

Examples

  • I cleared my throat and launched into a dramatic reading of Escargot Facon du Chef, rolling my Rs and generally hamming it up in such an exaggerated fashion that they were both doubled over, gasping for breath.

    Fiction book (1990)

  • During the play, the actor really hammed it up, making the audience laugh with his exaggerations.

  • Sam and Brent hamming it up.

    Blog text (10)

  • I hated that everyone really hammed it up for the cameras.

    Blog text (31)

  • Could it be that you're hamming it up a little bit for the crowd?

    Blog text (18)

  • Some students do warm to public reading and declamation out of a natural theatricality; they like to "ham it up" in front of their friends.

    Academic text (2002)

  • She's hamming it up for the camera, but you can tell from his expression that they don't belong together.

    Fiction book (2002)

  • He likes to ham it up for the camera, and he's got a very wry sense of humor.

    Blog text (12)

  • Scott Bakula completely hammed it up, perfectly channeling William Shatner for one of his best moments in the series.

    Blog text (10)

  • During my Renaissance Faire days, I found the costume gave me carte blanche to ham it up on stage, sing bawdy songs (still off-key), and flirt shamelessly.

    Blog text (24)

Synonyms

to play up
vsto ham it up
9 4.3

Make something seem more important or impressive than it is

is specifically about theatrical acting rather than general emphasis
to overact
vsto ham it up
5 5.5

To act in a way that is too strong or unnatural for the scene

is more theatrical and playful rather than merely excessive
to overplay
vsto ham it up
5 5.2

Act in an exaggerated way that makes a performance feel unnatural

is more about theatrical showmanship than simply losing realism
to ham
vsto ham it up
  • Informal
3 7.9

To act in an exaggerated way to get laughs or attention

is the multiword phrase used instead of the single word
to chew the scenery
vsto ham it up
  • Informal
1 9.6

To act in a very exaggerated way to get attention in plays or films

is theatrical exaggeration without the strong flamboyant film focus
to showboating
vsto ham it up
  • Informal
6.9

To act in a dramatic way to get attention

is focused on theatrical acting exaggeration rather than attention seeking

Antonyms

to underact
  • Jargon
7.4

To show too little feeling when playing a role

How Theatrical

to chew the scenery
  • Informal
1 9.6
to ham it up
  • Informal
4 7.4
to overact
5 5.5
to emote
7 7.9
to act
∞ 1.0

Surface Forms

ham it up infinitive
hamming it up present participle
hams it up third person singular
hammed it up past
hammed it up past participle

Morphology

ham + it + up

The core verb 'ham' already means 'to overact' and the particle 'up' serves as an intensifier while 'it' is a dummy object, so the overall meaning is directly derivable from the parts. This verb + particle construction is a regular, compositional pattern that a B1 learner who knows the constituents would readily understand.

Etymology

Ham it up may come from old theatre slang where a showy or bad actor was called a ham. One popular story says these 'ham' actors used loud voices and big, silly actions to get attention, so ham it up came to mean 'to overact'.