open up

8 synonyms and 6 antonyms for open up, grouped by meaning and by how common each one is.

Phrasal verb — To start talking freely about feelings, worries or private matters that you had been keeping to yourself.

Synonyms

Less common

Still standard English, but they carry more weight.

unlock unfold

Rare, literary or technical

Precise, but they will stand out — check the sense before using one.

confide speak freely unburden yourself let someone in unbar make available

Synonyms by Meaning

1. phrasal verb

To start talking freely about feelings, worries or private matters that you had been keeping to yourself.

“It took him months to open up about what happened.”

confide speak freely unburden yourself let someone in

Opposites

clam up shut down bottle up

2. phrasal verb

To make something accessible, or to become accessible — used of doors, shops, borders, markets and opportunities.

“Open up, it's freezing out here!”

unlock unbar make available unfold

Opposites

close shut seal off

How to use open up

The word patterns that sound natural to a native speaker.

open up to someone open up about open up a debate open up opportunities

Informal to neutral. Very common in conversation about mental health.

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between open up and open?

Plain open is literal and neutral: open the door. Open up adds either emotional disclosure or a sense of something becoming widely available. You open a shop at nine, but a country opens up to tourism.

How do you get someone to open up?

Linguistically, open up takes 'to' before the person hearing the disclosure and 'about' before the subject: he opened up to me about his job. Both prepositions are optional but rarely swapped.

People also searched

close shut unlock unfold unbar confide

Nearby words

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