Meaning & use
getting knocked up
Last updated
Meanings
phraseidiominformalslang
Becoming pregnant, used in informal speech.
Grammar: Usually said of a woman: She got knocked up. It is not polite in formal situations.
Patterns
- get knocked up
- getting knocked up by someone
She joked that she got knocked up on her honeymoon.
He was afraid of getting knocked up? No, he was afraid of getting her knocked up.
They got married after she got knocked up.
phraseidiominformalslang
Being made pregnant by someone, in the same informal use.
Grammar: Can take 'by': She got knocked up by her boyfriend.
Patterns
- getting knocked up by someone
She did not want to get knocked up by someone she barely knew.
He worried about getting her knocked up before they were ready.
Common combinations
- get knocked up
- She got knocked up at nineteen and finished school later.
- getting knocked up by
- She was getting knocked up by a man who then left.
- accidentally get knocked up
- They accidentally got knocked up during their first year together.
- afraid of getting knocked up
- She was afraid of getting knocked up before finishing college.
Synonyms and how they differ
- getting pregnant
- The neutral, polite way to say this; use it in writing and formal speech.
- falling pregnant
- An old-fashioned literary phrase with the same meaning, now rare.
Word family
- knock up verb
- The base phrasal verb: to make someone pregnant, informally.
- knocked up adjective
- Informal adjective meaning pregnant: She's knocked up.
Commonly confused: getting knocked up or knocking up? getting knocked up or knocking out?
getting knocked up vs knocking up
In British English 'knock someone up' means to wake them by knocking on their door, which is very different.
getting knocked up vs knocking out
Means making someone unconscious or defeating them, not making them pregnant.
Practice
Which sentence uses the phrase in its usual informal sense?
Choose one answer.
In American informal English 'getting knocked up' means becoming pregnant, so option 0 fits. The others use 'knocked up' in the British sense of being woken by knocking, or just confuse it with 'knocked'.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “getting knocked up”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.