The Phrasal Verb 'Throw Up' Explained
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An explanation of the different meanings of the English phrasal verb 'throw up' from a native speaker, with lots of examples in context
Hello and welcome to my website for English learners all about phrasal verbs where I explain their different meanings to help you understand, learn and use them like a native.
This post is all about 'throw up', which is a common English phrasal verb that is used to talk about topics like illness, surprise and haste, among other things. In this post, I will explain five different ways to use it, and provide you with lots of example sentences for each one so that you can impress your friends and family with your exceptional phrasal verb skills. So, let's make a start and find out what the phrasal verb 'throw up' is all about....
TABLE OF CONTENTSÂ (Click to jump to each one)
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THE BASICS
THROW UP: KEY INFORMATION
Usage | Common |
Number of meanings | 5 |
Past tense forms | Threw up / Thrown up |
Separable? | Yes |
We form the phrasal verb 'throw up' by combining the verb 'to throw' with the prepositional particle 'up' and before we start looking at the phrasal verb meanings, let's first quickly consider these two words as individual lexical units.....
Throw - The verb 'to throw' is an irregular verb in English, whose main meaning is to send something through the air, most commonly with your hands. In addition to this, 'to throw' also has a number of less common meanings, which most notably for this blog post are 'to carelessly or casually put something somewhere' and 'to quickly move a part of your body'. Furthermore, 'to throw' is commonly used in phrasal verbs and like many common verbs, it is irregular.
John threw the ball to Jane.
Can you throw that pen to me?
Ben hurriedly threw the boxes in the loft.
Kate threw her head back and laughed loudly.
Up - If you are a regular visitor to this website, you will know that 'up' is a super common particle in phrasal verbs and appears in many common ones. Sometimes, it can be used to add the literal meaning of a movement upwards or an increase to the base verb (go up), however most of the time it is used to add ideas and meanings to the verb that are not so obvious, such as completion (use up), creation (set up), improvement (smarten up) and disruption (break up).
So, now that we have covered the basics, let's move on to the different meanings of the phrasal verb 'throw up'....
MEANING 1: Literal
CEFR Language Level | A1 - Beginner |
Usage | Common |
Where is it used? | Everywhere |
Potential synonyms | To toss up, to fling up |
Separable? | Yes |
Let's begin our exploration of the phrasal verb 'throw up' with the easiest and most obvious of all its meanings, i.e. the literal one: 'to throw something in an upwards direction'.
Nouns commonly used with this application....
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As the meaning of this is easy to understand, I don't think we need to spend too much time on it, but just to confirm, it is simply used to talk about propelling an object upwards into the air with your hands. This is something that a tennis player does when starting a game or what university graduates traditionally do as part of their graduation ceremony. Usually, the words 'into the air' follow the words 'throw up' here.
The students threw their graduation caps up into the air when the ceremony ended.
Barbara threw a paper aeroplane up into the air, and it glided gently back down.
The rugby player threw the ball high into the air, hoping his teammate would catch it.
Sam closed his eyes and threw his father's ashes up into the air, letting the wind carry them away.
Although this application is elementary level English at its most basic level, you should know that we can also use it in more advanced ways too. One such way is when something causes either an object or material to rise into the air as a result of movement or an impact with the ground. For example, a runner may throw water up as they run through a puddle or if something heavy falls and hits the ground, it may throw dust, dirt or rocks up into the air.
The car sped down the dirt road, throwing up clouds of dust behind it.
The construction trucks rumbled past, throwing up stones and grit from the road.
The strong wind hit the waves, throwing up white foam along the shore.
The explosion threw up a thick cloud of smoke that could be seen for miles.
One other way that you can use this application in a more advanced way is with body parts, typically your arms and hands. If you throw your hands or arms up, it means that you move them very quickly upwards towards or above your head and is typically as a result of a strong emotion, shock or to protect yourself. If you are a good dancer (like me 😉), you may also throw your hands up on the dance floor, which is in fact a lyric that you may hear occasionally in dance music songs.
Eleanor threw up her hands in frustration.
Paul threw up his arms when he realised he had won.
The crowd threw up their hands as the band finally came on stage.
Startled by the noise, Melanie threw up her arms to protect her face.
Throw your hands up in the air and get down to the funky beat!
MEANING 2: To vomit
CEFR Language Level | B2 - Upper intermediate |
Usage | Common |
Where is it used? | Everywhere |
Potential synonyms | To vomit, to be sick, to bring up, to barf, to puke, to bring up |
Separable? | Yes |
I think that this second application of the phrasal verb 'throw up' is the one that you are most likely to know as it is the most common and means 'to vomit'.
For any of you who are not clear on what the verb 'to vomit' means, it is to eject food or drink from your stomach out of your mouth, typically when you are ill, drunk or on a boat. It is generally a rather unpleasant experience!
One thing to note here with this application is that it is very informal and therefore it is unlikely that your doctor or medical physician would use this. It is a very common way to talk about vomiting in informal conversations among native speakers though.
On a grammatical note, it is used the majority of the time in an intransitive way (without a direct object) to talk about and focus on the action of throwing up itself.
Vincent felt so sick that he had to run to the bathroom and throw up.
Marlene threw up after eating something that had gone off.
The smell was so strong it nearly made me throw up.
Ashley drank far too much wine and ended up throwing up outside the restaurant.
Sarah's son woke up in the night and threw up all over the bed.
I think I’m going to throw up; I feel terrible!
My daughter gets motion sickness and sometimes throws up on long journeys.
Dave suddenly turned pale and threw up in the sink.
We can also use this application in a separable, transitive way when we want to focus on the the food or drink that was eaten and then came back out again. You should note that this is much less common in everyday English and whilst it is technically separable, most native speakers still use it inseparably....
Tom threw up his lunch after going on the rollercoaster.
The baby kept throwing up her milk so her worried parents took her to the doctor.
Jeremy drank too quickly and threw up everything he’d eaten.
Jacob has accidentally swallowed a coin and we are hoping that he will throw it up again soon.
MEANING 3: To build something quickly
CEFR Language Level | C1 - Advanced |
Usage | Medium |
Where is it used? | Mainly British English |
Potential synonyms | To build, to erect, to construct, to put up |
Separable? | Yes |
The third of our applications of the phrasal verb 'throw up' is one that is also fairly informal and is used in reference to building and construction, meaning 'to build something quickly'.
Nouns commonly used with this application....
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If we consider the action of throwing, we can say that it is stypically an action that is done with some speed or force, otherwise the object that is thrown would just fall to the ground without travelling very far. When we combine this idea of speed that we get from throwing with the idea of a building rising into the air during the construction process, we arrive at the idea of building something quickly.
While speakers do often use this to talk about places where lots of new buildings appear seemingly out of nowhere in a neutral way, you should note that this can also carry a note of criticism that the buildings are of poor quality because not much care was taken in the hurry to build them.
Furthermore, this application is not just used to talk about buildings and can extend to other structures that can be built by people such as tents, fences and walls too.
While using 'throw up' in this way would be understood by most native English speakers, including Americans, it is definitely a more British English usage.
The scout leaders threw up a temporary shelter in less than an hour.
The housing developers threw up a row of cheap flats on the edge of town.
After the storm, volunteers threw up makeshift tents for the displaced people.
The company threw up an office block in record time.
We threw up a fence around the site overnight to secure everything.
A few food stalls had been thrown up near the festival entrance.
The army threw up defensive walls along the border.
Within weeks, new houses had been thrown up across the hillside.
MEANING 4: To reveal something of interest or note
CEFR Language Level | C1 - Advanced |
Usage | Medium |
Where is it used? | British English |
Potential synonyms | To produce, to yield |
Separable? | Yes |
Our fourth application of the phrasal verb 'throw up' is one that is often used to talk about surprise and revelation and means 'to reveal something of interest or note'.
Nouns commonly used with this application....
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To clarify, we use this application of 'throw up' to refer to situations in which unexpected facts or information become known for the first time, normally as a result of something that someone has done or said. Often, this new information then raises problems or issues for the people who receive the information.
For example, this could be when the results of an investigation into something produce answers that were not anticipated or it may be when a court case or public debate raises ethical or moral questions that had not been considered or discussed beforehand.
The main idea behind this application is that the results are surprising or different to what we expected, for example we would not use it if the results of an investigation were as expected.
As with the previous application, this one is also most common in British English, where it can be found regularly in journalism, the media and academic writing.
The investigation threw up several unexpected findings.
The latest survey on religion has thrown up some surprising results.
Our new IT system quickly threw up technical problems after it was installed.
The political debate threw up some interesting points about education reform.
That court case threw up some important ethical issues, which we are still discussing today.
The trial threw up conflicting testimony from key witnesses.
The merger threw up unexpected legal complications.
The audit threw up some irregularities in the company’s accounts.
MEANING 5: To leave a job or career
CEFR Language Level | C1 - Advanced |
Usage | Rare |
Where is it used? | British English |
Potential synonyms | To give up, to quit, to leave, to abandon |
Separable? | Yes |
Here we are at the final application of the phrasal verb 'throw up', which is a rarer one that means 'to leave a job or a career'.
Nouns commonly used with this applications....
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If you throw up a job or a career, it simply means that you quickly or suddenly leave your job, abandon your career or stop doing something professionally. This is normally used when it is by choice and not when it is forced and can often imply that that there was some drama or conflict that led to the 'throwing up' action.
Again, this is another primarily British usage, although I must say that I don't think I have ever heard it before in conversation (maybe I just haven't been paying enough attention). Some sources say that it is a bit old-fashioned, which could perhaps explain why I don't know it. Let me know if you ever come across it and where; I'd be interested to know!
Andrew threw up his job after a disagreement with his manager.
Wendy threw up her post as company director with immediate effect.
The finance minister threw up his office following the scandal.
My Dad shocked his colleagues when he threw up his position and walked out.
After years of frustration, Matilda finally threw up her career in finance.
We have now reached the end of this post and I just want to say thank you for clicking on my post and reading it. I hope that you've enjoyed it and have been able to learn something new about the phrasal verb 'throw up'. If you enjoyed this post, please go ahead and check out some of my other posts.
Now it is YOUR turn. Can you think of a sentence yourself using 'throw up'. Write it in the comments section below if you can, or alternatively any comments, suggestions or feedback that you may have....don't be shy!!!
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THE END