bulking (up)

verb

present participle of bulk (up)
as in assembling
to bring together in one body or place she bulked up her hair with one hand as she reached for the shears with the other

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for bulking (up)
  1. assembling
  2. collecting
  3. gathering
  4. rounding up
  5. accumulating
  6. amassing
  7. grouping
Verb
  • The team highlighted that the NSWC Corona controls and ships gages to the defense industrial base partners responsible for manufacturing and assembling the Trident missile.
    — Prabhat Ranjan Mishra, Interesting Engineering, 26 Aug. 2026
  • After heeding the call for volunteers and spent the next year assembling a team of family and students to capture the Great American Eclipse of 2024.
    — Anthony Wood, Space.com, 26 Aug. 2026
Definition of assembling
Verb
  • Chase said the acquisition marked an expansion of the library’s collecting interests beyond its millions of rare books, manuscripts and historical items spanning from the 11th through the 21st centuries.
    — Anthony Solorzano, Los Angeles Times, 1 Sep. 2026
  • Sunil Pandey Speaking with NBC News in Pokhara, Nabin Karki, a superintendent of police, said authorities were collecting DNA samples and displaying photos of the bodies found in hopes that family members might be able to identify them.
    — Surendra Phuyal, NBC news, 1 Sep. 2026
Definition of collecting
Verb
  • Detectives are working to identify people involved and gathering statements from witnesses, Gonzalez said.
    — Caroline Zimmerman, Kansas City Star, 27 Aug. 2026
  • Summer temperatures are expected to last into October, and El Niño is currently gathering strength in the Pacific.
    — Matthew Schneier, Curbed, 27 Aug. 2026
Definition of gathering
Verb
  • The repeat rebookings stem from the fact that the federal government often doesn’t have enough detention space to jail all the immigrants whom ICE and its cooperating local authorities are rounding up.
    — Mario Ariza, ProPublica, 27 Aug. 2026
  • In honor of the legendary actress-musician, PEOPLE is rounding up the most memorable theatrical films featuring Parton’s singular presence.
    — Jack Smart, PEOPLE, 25 Aug. 2026
Definition of rounding up
Verb
  • The continent is releasing higher levels of mercury into the ocean and marine ecosystem because of climate change, and the toxic metal is accumulating in the region’s wildlife, causing health problems in the food chain.
    — Devika Rao, TheWeek, 25 Aug. 2026
  • This policy may be funded over a period aligned with the mortgage term, while accumulating cash value.
    — Connie Etemadi, USA Today, 24 Aug. 2026
Definition of accumulating
Verb
  • Tabansi, a tackle, and Wayburn, a guard, were multi-year starters at Buffalo and UConn, respectively, amassing more than 2,200 offensive snaps.
    — Matt Murschel, The Orlando Sentinel, 26 Aug. 2026
  • In June, Baumeyer launched 20-0, an online game that lets players draft a fantasy team from varying eras in gridiron history in hopes of amassing a score worthy of a perfect season.
    — Justin Birnbaum, Sportico.com, 26 Aug. 2026
Definition of amassing
Verb
  • But Shanes questioned whether grouping Jews under a single ethnic category would produce sufficiently specific data for those purposes, or instead obscure differences among Jewish populations with distinct ancestries.
    — Naomi Taxay, Sacbee.com, 28 Aug. 2026
  • This time around, however, the tech giant is establishing parameters on mass arbitration by grouping them in batches of 25, 100, and 500, depending on the total number of claimants with similar issues.
    — Roy Stephen Canivel, Footwear News, 17 Aug. 2026
Definition of grouping
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Browse Nearby Words

bulking
bulking (up)
bulks
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Bulking (up).” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/bulking%20%28up%29. Accessed 2 Sep. 2026.

Copy Citation
Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

Listen to the pronunciation of dissonant

See Definitions and Examples »

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

A Who’s Who Regarding ‘Who’s’ and ‘Whose’

A List of Most Commonly Confused Words

Why do we use apostrophes to show possession?

Is it 'nerve-racking' or 'nerve-wracking'?

What's the difference between 'fascism' and 'socialism'?
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

The Longest Long Words List

Stay Woke

Ye Olde Nincompoop: Old-Fashioned Words for 'Stupid'

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of

Even More Bird Names that Sound Like Insults (and Sometimes Are)
See More

Popular

See More

A Who’s Who Regarding ‘Who’s’ and ‘Whose’

The Longest Long Words List

Stay Woke
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
skateboard-dog-hat
Wordmaxxing Slang Quiz Give your vocabulary a glow up by getting sendy w...
See All