show up

Verb

show up (third-person singular simple present shows up, present participle showing up, simple past showed up, past participle shown up)

1. (idiomatic, intransitive) To appear, arrive, or attend, especially suddenly or erratically.
   • Please come on time; don't just show up whenever you feel like it.
   • No matter how many I throw away, more copies always show up.

   Synonyms:

   turn up

2. (idiomatic, intransitive) To be easily visible; to be conspicuous.
   • Stains really show up on this white tablecloth.
3. (idiomatic, transitive) To make visible; to expose.
   • This bright light shows up the dust in the corners of the room.
   • I bet the Jayhawk fast break could show up the Nimrod's lack of speed.
4. (idiomatic, transitive) To make visible or expose faults and deficiencies in, usually by outdoing, outperforming, or outcompeting another.
   • I finished in five minutes and she showed me up by finishing in three.
   • It showed her up in her true colors.
5. (dated, idiomatic, intransitive) To produce an impression on observers; to come off.
   • A pleasing countenance showing above a suit of clothes is attractive and makes the suit show up well, while a face with a blank expression is likely to make a man say to himself, "Well if that man's clothes is going to make me look like that I don't want any of them."1910 October, “For Artistic Effects”, in National Lithographer