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Meaning & use

shooting up

phrase·Everyday

Last updated

UK/ˈʃuːtɪŋ ʌp/
US/ˈʃuːtɪŋ ʌp/

Meanings

  1. phraseidiomslang

    Injecting a drug into the body with a needle, especially into a vein.

    Grammar: Used as a noun phrase or after be: he was shooting up.

    Patterns

    • be shooting up
    • start shooting up
    • stop shooting up

    The clinic helps people who are shooting up to find safer treatment.

    He admitted that he had been shooting up for several years.

    Shooting up with shared needles is extremely dangerous.

  2. phraseidiom

    Growing, increasing or rising very quickly.

    Grammar: Usually describes prices, numbers, plants or children.

    Patterns

    • prices are shooting up
    • shooting up in price
    • shooting up like weeds

    Rents have been shooting up in the city center.

    The children are shooting up; they need new clothes every few months.

    Temperatures were shooting up during the heat wave.

Word forms

base formshoot up
third person singularshoots up
past tenseshot up
past participleshot up
-ing formshooting up

Common combinations

shooting up in price
Housing is shooting up in price across the region.
shooting up like a weed
The boy is shooting up like a weed.
shooting up heroin
The report described people shooting up heroin in the park.
keep shooting up
The number of cases kept shooting up all winter.

Synonyms and how they differ

injecting
The medical or neutral word for putting liquid into the body with a needle; shooting up is informal and strongly suggests illegal drug use.
soaring
Used for prices or numbers that rise very high; it does not have the drug meaning.
spiking
Describes a sudden sharp rise, often in graphs or levels; shooting up is more general and can describe living things too.

Opposites

droppingfalling

Word family

shoot verb
To fire a gun, or to move quickly.
shoot up phrasal verb
To rise fast, or to inject a drug.
shooter noun
A person who shoots, or a gun.

Commonly confused: shooting up or shooting? shooting up or shooting off?

shooting up vs shooting

Shooting alone means firing a gun or taking photos; shooting up adds the idea of injecting drugs or rising fast.

shooting up vs shooting off

Shooting off means firing a gun quickly or talking without thinking, not injecting drugs.

Practice

After the new law, house prices started ___ in the capital.

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