sex up
To make something look more exciting or important than it really is, or to make it more sexually attractive.
Meanings
To make something more sexually attractive or appealing.
"The marketing team sexed up the product packaging to appeal to a younger audience."
To exaggerate or sensationalise something, especially a report or document, to make it seem more significant or dramatic.
"Critics accused the news channel of sexing up the story to attract more viewers."
"The dossier had been 'sexed up' to make the case for war."
— BBC journalist Andrew Gilligan, referring to the UK Government's Iraq dossier, May 2003 (source of the 'Hutton Inquiry').
Gained widespread attention in British English when used in the 'Hutton Inquiry' (2003) in the phrase 'sexed-up dossier', referring to the UK government allegedly exaggerating intelligence on Iraq. This political sense — to exaggerate or sensationalise — is now well established alongside the older sense of making something sexually appealing.
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Forms
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