AAAmerican Accent US

throw up

No object

This verb takes no object at all.

How to say it

Stress the particle, not the verb: throw UP. Saying “THROW 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: “throw up” → “throw-wup”. You do not insert it deliberately — it falls out of not stopping between the words.

What it means

  1. To vomit.

    informal
    • “He felt so nervous he thought he might throw up.”

    Similar: vomit, be sick

The particle logic

up

Something is finished, raised, improved, or brought together.

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More THROW phrasal verbs

Compare the whole family →

throw away

To discard something you no longer want.

throw out

To discard something.

throw off

To remove something quickly, or to shed a feeling.

throw on

To put clothing on quickly and without care.

throw up — meaning, examples & how to say it