Akademik

screw up
verb
1. make more intense (Freq. 1)
-

Emotions were screwed up

• Syn: ↑heat up, ↑hot up
• Hypernyms: ↑intensify, ↑compound, ↑heighten, ↑deepen
• Verb Frames:
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Somebody ——s something

-

Something ——s something

2. make a mess of, destroy or ruin
-

I botched the dinner and we had to eat out

-

the pianist screwed up the difficult passage in the second movement

• Syn:
↑botch, ↑bodge, ↑bumble, ↑fumble, ↑botch up, ↑muff, ↑blow, ↑flub, ↑ball up, ↑spoil, ↑muck up, ↑bungle, ↑fluff, ↑bollix, ↑bollix up, ↑bollocks, ↑bollocks up, ↑bobble, ↑mishandle, ↑louse up, ↑foul up, ↑mess up, ↑fuck up
• Derivationally related forms:
↑fuckup (for: ↑fuck up), ↑mess-up (for: ↑mess up), ↑foul-up (for: ↑foul up), ↑fluff (for: ↑fluff), ↑bungle (for: ↑bungle), ↑bungler (for: ↑bungle), ↑spoil (for: ↑spoil), ↑spoilage (for: ↑spoil), ↑spoiling (for: ↑spoil), ↑ballup (for: ↑ball up), ↑screwup, ↑flub (for: ↑flub), ↑fumbler (for: ↑fumble), ↑bumbler (for: ↑bumble), ↑botcher (for: ↑botch), ↑botch (for: ↑botch)
• Hypernyms: ↑fail, ↑go wrong, ↑miscarry
• Verb Frames:
-

Somebody ——s

-

Somebody ——s something

3. screw or turn higher
• Hypernyms: ↑screw
• Verb Frames:
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Somebody ——s something

-

Something ——s something

4. twist into a strained configuration
-

screw up one's face

• Hypernyms: ↑grimace, ↑make a face, ↑pull a face
• Verb Frames:
-

Somebody ——s something

* * *

informal completely mismanage or mishandle a situation

I'm sorry, Susan, I screwed up

* * *

screw up [phrasal verb]
informal
1 a : to make a mistake : to do something incorrectly

Sorry about that, I screwed up.

You really screwed up this time.

1 b screw (something) up or screw up (something) : to make a mistake in (something)

The waiter screwed up our order.

This performance is important, so don't screw it up.

2 screw (something) up or screw up (something) : to damage or ruin (something)

Drugs screwed up her life.

: to damage or change (something) so that it does not work properly

I don't know what I did, but I somehow screwed up the computer.

3 screw (someone) up or screw up (someone) : to make (someone) very upset and unhappy for a long time

The divorce really screwed him up.

4 screw (something) up or screw up (something) : to tighten the muscles of (your face or eyes)

He screwed his face up into a frown.

She screwed up her eyes [=she squinted] and tried to read the sign.

5 screw up the/your courage : to make yourself brave enough to do something difficult

I finally screwed up the courage to tell them that I was quitting.

— see also ↑screw 6, 2
• • •
Main Entry: ↑screw

* * *

ˌscrew ˈup derived
(slang, especially NAmE) to do sth badly or spoil sth
Syn: ↑mess up

•

You really screwed up there!

related noun ↑screw-up
Main entry: ↑screwderived

Useful english dictionary. 2012.