To develop from a child into an adult; also used to tell someone to behave more maturely.
To get older and become an adult — or when someone tells you to stop acting like a child.
4 meanings, ordered from most common to least. Color-coded by CEFR level.
To develop from a child into an adult over time.
"By the time their children had grown up and left home, they finally had time for themselves."
"I grew up in a house where the love of reading was not just encouraged but demanded."
— Fran Lebowitz, interview with The Paris Review
To have spent one's childhood in a particular place.
"He grew up in a small fishing village on the west coast of Ireland."
Used as an imperative or suggestion telling someone to behave in a more mature or sensible way.
""Oh, grow up!" she snapped. "You can't sulk every time you don't get your way.""
Of an idea, movement, or organization: to emerge and develop gradually.
"A strong sense of national identity grew up in the region during the nineteenth century."
To grow in an upward direction — transparent in the sense of children getting taller/older.
To get older and become an adult — or when someone tells you to stop acting like a child.
One of the most common phrasal verbs in English. Used literally (children growing up) and as an imperative telling someone to behave maturely ('Grow up!'). Also used to describe where someone spent their childhood ('I grew up in Paris'). Always intransitive.
Natural word combinations native speakers use most often.
The five tense forms you'll use most often.
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