CRANKED (UP) Synonyms: 68 Similar and Opposite Words

cranked (up)

verb

past tense of crank (up)

as in activated

to cause to function crank up the CD player so we can dance

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for cranked (up)

Verb

Emergency response activated Savannah River Site officials said the incident triggered emergency response activities at the Department of Energy facility.

— Neetika Walter, Interesting Engineering, 29 Oct. 2026
Scammers would return the cards to the original store and use computer programs to monitor when the altered cards are activated.

— DeJanay Booth-Singleton, CBS News, 28 Oct. 2026

Definition of activated

Verb

The attacks, which saw 1,195 people killed and 251 taken into Gaza as hostages, triggered a major security crisis that led to three years of war on multiple fronts.

— Yarden Segev, NBC news, 27 Oct. 2026
More recently, inflation triggered by the Iran war has increased energy and food prices across the country in 2026.

— Amy L. Wong, Washington Post, 27 Oct. 2026

Definition of triggered

Verb

In March 2024, House Republicans released a previously undisclosed transcript of the Select Committee's interview with a Secret Service officer who drove the presidential SUV.

— Arkansas Online, Arkansas Online, 29 Oct. 2026
But World Cup momentum drove results across linear TV and streamer ViX in Mexico, where TelevisaUnivision had rights to the matches.

— Georg Szalai, HollywoodReporter, 29 Oct. 2026

Definition of drove

Verb

Suspicions of state corruption in infrastructure projects two years ago set off a wave of street protests after a collapsed canopy at a train station in Serbia's north killed 16 people after a renovation.

— Arkansas Online, Arkansas Online, 30 Oct. 2026
Guichard Doré, a former adviser to President Jovenel Moïse, whose assassination in 2021 set off the current gang crisis, said Haitians are reaching a breaking point.

— Jacqueline Charles, Miami Herald, 30 Oct. 2026

Definition of set off

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

cranked out

cranked (up)

crankiness

See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

Style

“Cranked (up).” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/cranked%20%28up%29. Accessed 31 Oct. 2026.

Copy Citation

Synonyms of cranked (up)

verb

Example Sentences

Browse Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

wraith

Popular in Grammar & Usage

How to Use 'Who' vs. 'Whom'

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

'Affect' vs. 'Effect'

'A' or 'an'? What about before 'h'? An Indefinite Article Guide

Why is '-ed' sometimes pronounced at the end of a word?

Popular in Wordplay

The Longest Long Words List

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

Pwn, Skibidi, Girlboss and Other Words Added to the 2026 Scrabble Dictionary

The Words of the Week - Oct. 30

12 Lovely and Unusual Words for the Natural World

Popular

How to Use 'Who' vs. 'Whom'

The Longest Long Words List

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

Games & Quizzes