bump up

Meanings

1. 1phrasetransitiveinformal

   to increase an amount, level, or price, often quickly or by a small amount.

   Grammar: Takes an object and is separable: bump up the salary / bump the salary up. With a pronoun, the pronoun must go in the middle: bump it up, not bump up it.

   Patterns

   • bump up something
   • bump something up
   • bump up prices/wages

   The store bumped up the price of milk by 20 cents.

   They decided to bump up their offer to $500,000 to win the house.

   The company bumped salaries up last year to keep good staff.

2. 2phrasetransitiveinformal

   to move someone to a higher position or rank, especially in a team or organization.

   Grammar: Takes an object, often a person: bump someone up to something. Also separable: bump her up.

   Patterns

   • bump someone up
   • bump up someone
   • bump someone up to something

   The coach bumped her up to the first team after her great performance.

   He was bumped up to manager after only a year.

   They bumped up the young player to the starting lineup.

Word forms

Common combinations

bump up prices

The airline bumped up prices for the holiday weekend.

bump up wages

The union wants to bump up wages for all workers.

bump up the numbers

They bumped up the numbers to make the results look better.

bump someone up to

She was bumped up to director last month.

Synonyms and how they differ

raise

Raise is more neutral and formal; bump up is informal and often suggests a quick or modest increase.

increase

Increase is the general, neutral word; bump up is less formal and often used in speech.

hike

Hike is used mainly for prices or taxes and suggests a sharp rise; bump up is milder.

Opposites

Word family

bump verb

to hit or knock against something, or to move someone to a different group.

Commonly confused: bump up or bump into?

Practice

Make it your own

Write a sentence using “bump up”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.

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