spruce up

phrasal verb

spruced up; sprucing up; spruces up

: to make (someone or something) look cleaner, neater, or more attractive

We spruced up the room with a fresh coat of paint.

I need to spruce myself up a bit before we go out to dinner.

Did you know?

titivate, spruce up, smarten up, or spiff up?

Titivate, spruce, smarten, and spiff all mean "to make a person or thing neater or more attractive." Titivate often refers to making small additions or alterations in attire ("titivate the costume with sequins and other accessories"), but it can also be used figuratively (as in "titivating the script for Broadway"). Spruce up is sometimes used for cosmetic changes or renovations that give the appearance of newness ("spruce up the house with new shutters and fresh paint before trying to sell it"). Smarten up and spiff up both mean to improve in appearance often by making more neat or stylish ("the tailor smartened up the suit with minor alterations"; "he needed some time to spiff himself up for the party"). The origins of titivate are uncertain, but it may have been formed from the English words tidy and renovate.

Examples of spruce up in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web The couple, who live most of the year in Connecticut and have three school-age children, had been working with Kamp Studios, the vaunted plaster workshop, on sprucing up their main residence. —

Catherine Hong, Architectural Digest, 5 Aug. 2024 The makeover kicked off the Bobcat Park and Rec Makeover Contest which will give a winning community $100,000 to spruce up their local park. —

Natalia Senanayake, Peoplemag, 17 July 2024 Weekly yard maintenance, whether raking leaves, mowing, weeding, watering plants, or simply sprucing up your flower beds, will keep your curb appeal in top form. —

Patricia Shannon, Better Homes & Gardens, 14 July 2024 There are more than 1,500 furniture and decor items that will instantly spruce up your home. —

Blake Bakkila, Architectural Digest, 17 July 2024 See all Example Sentences for spruce up

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'spruce up.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.