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 mall underwent a $4 million refurbishing in August 1983, sprucing up the look a bit with landscaping and benches and flooring. —

Howard Cohen, Miami Herald, 3 June 2024 After the event, volunteers fanned out to an array of nearby locations to engage in tasks such as cleaning up Coyote Creek and sprucing up and beautifying Kelley Park, which is home to both Happy Hollow and the Japanese Friendship Garden. —

George Avalos, The Mercury News, 1 June 2024 This Martha Stewart x Safavieh Sisal and Jute Indoor-Outdoor Rug is a beautiful yet understated piece that will spruce up any porch or patio. —

Clara McMahon, Peoplemag, 1 June 2024 The upgrade to Unreal Engine 5 also spruces up the visuals across the board. —

PCMAG, 30 May 2024 Below are 17 stylish home decor finds to spruce up your space on a budget. —

Wendy Vazquez, Southern Living, 29 May 2024 So rather than sprucing up the front garden or upgrading the backyard pool, shoppers are using the cash on more immediate and affordable purchases. —

Francisco Velasquez, Quartz, 27 May 2024 While public schools sometimes splurge on prom venues too — in addition to hotel ballrooms and sprucing up their gymnasiums — some of the city’s most elite schools regularly opt for world-class museums, studio lots and nightclubs, giving teenagers only-in-L.A. prom experiences. —

Andrew Zucker, Los Angeles Times, 21 May 2024 Her team will spruce up the restaurant with a new orange, brown and gray color scheme and a fresh logo. —

Amanda Yeager, Baltimore Sun, 19 Mar. 2024

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.