Meaning & use
bring up
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Meanings
phrasephrasal verb
To start talking about a subject.
Grammar: The object can go in the middle or after: bring it up, bring up the issue.
Patterns
- bring up something
- bring something up with someone
Please don't bring up politics at dinner.
She brought up the budget at the meeting.
I'll bring it up with my manager tomorrow.
phrasephrasal verb
To take care of a child until he or she is an adult.
Grammar: The object can go in the middle: bring the children up.
Patterns
- bring someone up
- be brought up in somewhere
She brought up three children on her own.
He was brought up in a small village.
They brought their kids up to be polite.
phrasephrasal verbinformal
To vomit food.
Grammar: Informal and used with an object like food or breakfast.
Patterns
- bring something up
The baby brought up her milk.
He felt sick and brought up his breakfast.
The dog brought up some grass.
phrasephrasal verbcomputing
To display something on a screen.
Grammar: Often used with computer terms: bring up a menu.
Patterns
- bring up something
Click here to bring up the menu.
She brought up the map on her phone.
The program will bring up an error message.
Word forms
| third person singular | brings up |
|---|---|
| past tense | brought up |
| past participle | brought up |
| -ing form | bringing up |
Common combinations
- bring up a subject
- Don't bring up that subject again.
- bring up children
- They want to bring up their children in the countryside.
- bring up an issue
- She brought up an issue with the schedule.
- well brought up
- He is polite and well brought up.
- bring up a point
- Let me bring up one more point.
Synonyms and how they differ
- raise
- Raise is more common for children in American English and is used for subjects only in formal speech.
- mention
- Mention means to say something briefly, while bring up suggests starting a discussion.
- rear
- Rear is formal and mostly used for animals or children.
- introduce
- Introduce suggests presenting a topic formally, whereas bring up is casual.
Opposites
Word family
- upbringing noun
- the way a child is raised
- brought-up adjective
- raised, as in well brought up
- bring verb
- to carry toward a place
Commonly confused: bring up or bring out?
bring up vs bring out
Bring out means to release or reveal something, such as a product, not to raise a child.
Practice
In which sentence does bring up mean to raise a child?
Choose one answer.
'Brought me up' means raised me. The others refer to a topic, a screen display or vomiting.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “bring up”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.