beat up
(Informal)
[verb]
Synonyms: assault, attack, batter, beat the living daylights out of (informal), knock about or around, thrash

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English Thesaurus: hit, beat, strike, punch, thump, ...

[TahlilGaran] English Synonym Dictionary ▲

beat up phrasal verb (see also beat)

1. beat somebody ↔ up to hurt someone badly by hitting them:
Her boyfriend got drunk and beat her up.

2. beat up on somebody American English to hit someone and harm them, especially someone younger or weaker than yourself

3. beat yourself up (also beat up on yourself American English) informal to blame yourself too much for something:
If you do your best and you lose, you can’t beat yourself up about it.

[TahlilGaran] Dictionary of Contemporary English ▲

ˈbeat-up adjective
a beat-up car, bicycle etc is old and in bad condition Synonym : battered:
a beat-up old Ford Escort

[TahlilGaran] Dictionary of Contemporary English ▲

hit to hit someone quickly and hard with your hand, a stick etc:
He hit him hard in the stomach.
I don’t like to see people hitting a dog.
beat to hit someone deliberately many times, especially very hard:
The girl had been beaten to death.
He was beating the donkey with a stick.
strike written to hit someone with your hand or a weapon. Strike is more formal than hit and is mainly used in written English:
Her husband struck her twice across the face.
Police say that the man had been struck on the head.
punch to hit someone hard with your closed hand, especially in a fight:
I punched him on the nose.
She was screaming and punching him with her fists.
thump /θʌmp/ informal to punch someone very hard:
Sometimes I just want to thump him.
beat somebody up to hurt someone badly in a violent attack, by hitting them many times:
If I tell the police, they'll beat me up.
He had been beaten up and tortured with lighted cigarettes.
slap to hit someone with your open hand, especially because you are angry with them:
They had a big row and she ended up slapping him.
spank (also smack especially British English) to hit someone, especially a child, with your open hand in order to punish them:
Should a parent ever smack a child?
I don’t agree with smacking.
In those days, children were spanked if they behaved badly.
bang a loud sound caused especially when something hard or heavy hits something else:
I heard a loud bang and rushed out to see what had happened.
He slammed the door shut with a bang.
crash a very loud sound caused when something hits something else, especially when damage is caused:
The tray of dishes fell to the floor with a crash.
I heard an enormous crash outside our house, and I went to see what had happened.
thud a quiet low sound made when a heavy object falls down onto surface:
There was a dull thud as the box hit the floor.
His head hit the ground with a sickening thud.
clink a short ringing sound made when two glass, metal, or china objects hit each other:
the clink of champagne glasses
The clink of cutlery could be heard in the restaurant.
tinkle the pleasant sound that is made by light pieces of glass or metal hitting each other repeatedly:
He listened to the faint tinkle of cow bells in the distance.
jingle the sound of small metal objects being shaken together:
the jingle of her bracelets
the jingle of keys
rattle a short repeated sound made when things hit against each other - used especially when part of something is loose and is hitting against something:
There was a strange rattle coming from the engine.
the rattle of the trolley

[TahlilGaran] English Thesaurus ▲

hit to hit someone quickly and hard with your hand, a stick etc:
He hit him hard in the stomach.
I don’t like to see people hitting a dog.
beat to hit someone deliberately many times, especially very hard:
The girl had been beaten to death.
He was beating the donkey with a stick.
strike written to hit someone with your hand or a weapon. Strike is more formal than hit and is mainly used in written English:
Her husband struck her twice across the face.
Police say that the man had been struck on the head.
punch to hit someone hard with your closed hand, especially in a fight:
I punched him on the nose.
She was screaming and punching him with her fists.
thump /θʌmp/ informal to punch someone very hard:
Sometimes I just want to thump him.
beat somebody up to hurt someone badly in a violent attack, by hitting them many times:
If I tell the police, they'll beat me up.
He had been beaten up and tortured with lighted cigarettes.
slap to hit someone with your open hand, especially because you are angry with them:
They had a big row and she ended up slapping him.
spank (also smack especially British English) to hit someone, especially a child, with your open hand in order to punish them:
Should a parent ever smack a child?
I don’t agree with smacking.
In those days, children were spanked if they behaved badly.
knock to hit a door or window with your closed hand in order to attract the attention of the people inside:
Someone was knocking on the door.
I knocked loudly but no one came.
whack /wæk/ informal to hit something very hard:
Edmonds whacked the ball into the air.
bash to hit something hard, especially in a way that causes damage:
The police had to bash the door down to get in.
tap to gently hit something with your fingers, often in order to attract someone’s attention:
I tapped him on the shoulder.
I heard someone tapping on the window.
rap to knock quickly or hit something several times:
He rapped the table with his pen to bring the meeting to order.
Two police officers rapped on the door at 7 o'clock in the morning.
bang to suddenly hit something hard, in a way that makes a loud noise:
Her father banged his fist down on the table angrily.
The door suddenly banged shut.
pound written to hit something many times with a lot of force:
I could hear the sea pounding on the rocks.
She pounded on the door and shouted wildly.
hammer written to hit something quickly many times making a loud continuous noise:
The rain was hammering on the roof.
A crowd of people were outside hammering on the door angrily.
bump to hit a part of your body against something, especially because you do not see or notice it:
Careful you don’t bump your head – the ceiling’s very low.
bang/bash to hit something hard, so that you hurt yourself or damage something:
He banged into the car in front.
I bashed my knee climbing over a gate.
She fell and bashed her chin on the ground.
stub to hit your toe against something and hurt it:
I stubbed my toe on the piano leg.
bestseller a book that a lot of people buy:
His prize-winning book ‘A Year in Provence’ became an international bestseller.
blockbuster a film that a lot of people watch, especially an exciting film:
a Hollywood blockbuster
a blockbuster movie
sell-out a concert, sports event etc which so many people want to see that all the tickets are sold:
The concert was a sell-out.
the band’s sell-out tour of the US
cult movie/band/figure etc a film, band, person etc that has become very popular and fashionable with a particular group of people:
a cult TV programme
craze something that suddenly becomes popular, so that a lot of people do it, buy it etc:
the latest dance craze that has been sweeping the US
the craze for ultra expensive designer jeans
fad informal something that is very popular for a short time – used about something that you disapprove of, which you do not think will last for very long:
Most diets are just fads.
I think it’s a passing fad.

[TahlilGaran] English Thesaurus ▲

hit to hit someone quickly and hard with your hand, a stick etc:
He hit him hard in the stomach.
I don’t like to see people hitting a dog.
beat to hit someone deliberately many times, especially very hard:
The girl had been beaten to death.
He was beating the donkey with a stick.
strike written to hit someone with your hand or a weapon. Strike is more formal than hit and is mainly used in written English:
Her husband struck her twice across the face.
Police say that the man had been struck on the head.
punch to hit someone hard with your closed hand, especially in a fight:
I punched him on the nose.
She was screaming and punching him with her fists.
thump /θʌmp/ informal to punch someone very hard:
Sometimes I just want to thump him.
beat somebody up to hurt someone badly in a violent attack, by hitting them many times:
If I tell the police, they'll beat me up.
He had been beaten up and tortured with lighted cigarettes.
slap to hit someone with your open hand, especially because you are angry with them:
They had a big row and she ended up slapping him.
spank (also smack especially British English) to hit someone, especially a child, with your open hand in order to punish them:
Should a parent ever smack a child?
I don’t agree with smacking.
In those days, children were spanked if they behaved badly.
throw a punch (=try to hit someone)
Rob was so angry that he turned round and threw a punch at the man.
land a punch (=manage to hit someone)
Then I began to land some good punches.
give somebody a punch
He gave me a punch on the nose.
deliver a punch formal (=hit someone)
Who actually delivered the punch that killed the man?
take a punch (=be hit, or deal well with being hit)
I took a lot of punches but I gave a lot too.
a hard/powerful punch
My stomach took a couple of hard punches.
a good punch
Tyson landed one good punch but it wasn’t enough.
a knockout punch (=a blow that knocks someone down so that they cannot get up again)
In the fourth round, Lewis produced a knockout punch that ended the fight.
make a hole in something to cause a hole to appear in something:
Make a hole in the bottom of the can using a hammer and nail.
pierce to make a small hole in or through something, using a pointed object:
The dog's teeth had pierced her skin.
Shelley wanted to have her ears pierced (=for earrings).
prick to make a very small hole in the surface of something, using a pointed object:
Prick the potatoes before baking them.
My finger was bleeding where the needle had pricked it.
puncture to make a small hole in something, especially something where skin or a wall surrounds a softer or hollow inside part:
The bullet had punctured his lung.
perforate formal to make a hole or holes in something:
Fragments of the bullet had perforated his intestines.
drill to make a hole using a special tool, often one which turns round and round very quickly:
The dentist started drilling a hole in my tooth.
They won a contract to drill for oil in the area.
bore to make a deep round hole through a rock, into the ground etc:
They had to bore through solid rock.
The men were boring a hole for the tunnel.

[TahlilGaran] English Thesaurus ▲

beat up
beat (someone) up
1.
to strongly criticize someone.
The candidates spent the time beating each other up instead of talking about how to improve the economy.

Usage notes: sometimes used in the form beat up on someone:
Sanchez beat up on Brown for problems with street repairs.

2.
to easily defeat someone.
The Rangers beat up Kansas city, 7—3.

Etymology: based on the literal meaning of beat someone up (= to hurt someone badly)

[TahlilGaran] English Idioms Dictionary ▲

beat up
to harm someone by hitting or beating them
The young boys beat up one of the older students.

[TahlilGaran] English Idioms Dictionary ▲

beat up
v., informal To give a hard beating to; hit hard and much; thrash; whip.
When the new boy first came, he had to beat up several neighborhood bullies before they would leave him alone.
■ Used with "on" in substandard speech.
The tough boy said to Bill, "If you come around here again, I'll beat up on you."

[TahlilGaran] English Idioms Dictionary ▲