Word.ws English Dictionary

builds up

builds up is the third-person singular simple present indicative of build up.

Meaning of build up

Verb

build up (third-person singular simple present builds up, present participle building up, simple past and past participle built up)

  1. To erect; to construct.
    • Near-synonym: build out
  2. To close up by building.
    • to build up a door
  3. (idiomatic, intransitive, transitive) To accumulate: to increase incrementally or continually.
    • Ever since the secretary left, the letters in my inbox have started to build up.
  4. (idiomatic, transitive) To strengthen.
    • They had to build up their fortress to protect against attack.
  5. In solitaire card games, to place a card over another card of lower value. (e.g., place 5♦ over 4♣)
    Antonyms:
    build down

Questions about builds up

What is builds up the third-person singular simple present indicative of?
Builds up is the third-person singular simple present indicative of build up.

Words near builds up in the dictionary

  1. builds into
  2. builds on
  3. builds on sand
  4. builds out
  5. builds the plane while flying it
  6. builds up
  7. builds upon
  8. buildup
  9. buildups
  10. Buildwas
  11. built

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: builds up (page history and authors); build up (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “builds up.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/builds_up. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.