screw up

phrasal verbphr v

a) informalDO BADLY to make a bad mistake or do something very stupid 犯大错；做蠢事 SYN mess up

You’d better not screw up this time.

这次你最好别搞砸了。

b) screw something ↔ up informalSPOIL to spoil something by doing something stupid 把某事搞糟[弄糟] SYN mess something up

She realized that she had screwed up her life.

她意识到她把自己的生活都给毁了。

c) screw up your eyes/faceHBH to move the muscles in your face in a way that makes your eyes seem narrow 瞇起眼睛/扭曲面部

He screwed up his eyes against the bright light.

强烈的光线下他瞇起了眼睛。

Her face was screwed up with pain.

她痛得脸都扭曲了。

d) screw somebody ↔ up informalSAD/UNHAPPYCONFUSED to make someone feel very unhappy, confused, or upset so that they have emotional problems for a long time 〔长时间地〕使某人很不愉快，使某人非常烦恼 SYN mess somebody up

It really screwed her up when her mother died.

母亲的去世让她十分难过。

→ screwed up

e) screw up the/enough courage to do something (also screw up your courage to do something)BRAVE to be brave enough to do something you are very nervous about 鼓起/鼓足勇气做某事

I finally screwed up enough courage to talk to her.

我终于鼓足勇气和她说了话。

Examples from the Corpus

screw up• I can't trust you to do anything right can I? You always manage to screw things up.• I was so nervous about the driving test that I screwed the whole thing up.• My audition was going really well until I screwed the last part up.• Someone screwed up and what was supposed to be a confidential email was copies to everyone in the company.• There was no way he was going to allow her to screw up his plans.• He screwed his handkerchief up into a ball and put it in his pocket.• Sally screwed up the letter she was writing and threw it into the wastebasket.• If you screw up too many times, they'll kick you off the team.

screw up your eyes/face• He screwed up his eyes against the light and Jurnet saw the gipsy in him.• He screwed up his eyes and put his hands over his ears.• She screwed up her face and whispered: you're so revoltingly fat you disgusting baboon.• He screwed up his face as the hot water from the kitchen tap scalded his hand.• He screwed up his face at the appalling stench but made no move to draw back.• Blake screwed up his eyes, trying to peer through the fog.

screw up the/enough courage to do something• But Janice's fear was so great she struggled through two more migraines before screwing up enough courage to try the injection.• I eventually screwed up the courage to write to Richardson, pretending to be a drama student wanting advice.

→ screw up at screw2(3)

screw upChinese