grow up
No objectThis verb takes no object at all.
How to say it
Stress the particle, not the verb: grow UP. Saying “GROW up” is the clearest learner tell — the verb stays light and the particle carries the beat.
A glide appears. Two vowels meet, so American English slips a /w/ between them: “grow up” → “grow-wup”. You do not insert it deliberately — it falls out of not stopping between the words.
Verb vs noun
As a noun the stress flips to the front: the verb is grow UP, the noun is GROWN-UP. Same two words, different beat — “to grow UP” is the action, “a grown-up” is the thing. Getting this backwards makes the sentence land oddly even when every sound is right.
2 meanings
- 1
To become an adult.
- “Watching her children grow up was her greatest joy.”
- “I grew up in a small town outside Chicago.”
Similar: mature
- 2
To behave more maturely — used as a rebuke.
- “Grow up — this isn't a game.”