grow up
verb
grew up; grown up; growing up; grows up
1
a
: to grow toward or arrive at full stature or physical or mental maturity : to progress from childhood toward adulthood
growing up intellectually
grew up in the city
also
: to become an adult
She wants to be a doctor when she grows up.
b
: to stop thinking or behaving in a childish way
He should grow up and accept his responsibilities.
2
: to begin to exist and develop as time passes
A number of cities grew up along the river.
Examples of grow up in a Sentence
everyone has to grow up at some point in their lives
Recent Examples on the Web
Young Alfred Tennyson grew up in a similarly provincial bit of England, tucked away in his father’s vicarage on a remote part of the east coast of England in a village of fewer than a hundred souls.
—
Kathryn Hughes, The New York Review of Books, 4 Apr. 2026
Originally from Louisiana, Snell grew up listening to blues and harmonica with her father and was attending the festival for the second year in a row.
—Walker Armstrong, San Diego Union-Tribune, 4 Apr. 2026
Ozama is distilled, aged, and bottled in the country from Dominican sugarcane and even named after a river near where Ortiz grew up.
—Jed Gottlieb, Boston Herald, 4 Apr. 2026
And many of the GTW staffers grew up with NHL trading cards and hockey sweaters from the early-to-mid-1990s.
—Sean Keeler, Denver Post, 4 Apr. 2026
See All Example Sentences for grow up
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Kathryn Hughes, The New York Review of Books, 4 Apr. 2026
Originally from Louisiana, Snell grew up listening to blues and harmonica with her father and was attending the festival for the second year in a row.
—Walker Armstrong, San Diego Union-Tribune, 4 Apr. 2026
Ozama is distilled, aged, and bottled in the country from Dominican sugarcane and even named after a river near where Ortiz grew up.
—Jed Gottlieb, Boston Herald, 4 Apr. 2026
And many of the GTW staffers grew up with NHL trading cards and hockey sweaters from the early-to-mid-1990s.
—Sean Keeler, Denver Post, 4 Apr. 2026
See All Example Sentences for grow up
Cite this Entry
“Grow up.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/grow%20up. Accessed 5 Apr. 2026.
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