Wind Someone Up: Meaning, Examples & Usage

Meaning 1：tease playfully (Wind someone up)

Wind someone up 🔊

/waɪnd ˈsʌmwʌn ʌp/

phr.v.

To intentionally annoy or tease someone, often in a playful way.

Wind someone up meaning playful teasing between friends at cafe

tease playfully 🔊

➕

/tiːz ˈpleɪfəli/

phr.v.

To deliberately irritate or provoke someone in a light-hearted or joking manner, often without serious intent.

📁 Category：Behaviors & Actions 🔖 Level：Intermediate

📘 Details & Usage

📖 Root Explanation

Wind (twist, from Old English 'windan') + up (completion); figurative annoyance from mechanical tension.

💡 Mnemonic

Imagine winding a toy key so tight it annoys – that's how you wind someone up.

📖 Example

My little sister loves to wind me up by pretending she lost my favorite book, but she always gives it back with a smile. 🔊 My younger sister enjoys teasing me by pretending to lose my favorite book, yet she always returns it with a smile.

🔗 Collocations

wind someone up about something – To annoy someone by repeatedly discussing a particular topic

get wound up – To become irritated or agitated

wind each other up – To playfully annoy one another

🔄 Synonyms

tease (v.) – To make fun of someone in a playful or gentle way

provoke (v.) – To deliberately annoy or anger someone, often to get a reaction

needle (v.) – To annoy someone by persistent small remarks or actions

🚫 Antonyms

calm down (phr.v.) – To become less agitated or annoyed

soothe (v.) – To gently calm someone's feelings

pacify (v.) – To make someone less angry or upset

🌱 Derivatives

wound up (adj.) – Annoyed, tense, or agitated

winding up (n.) – The act of playfully annoying someone

📖 Cultural Story

Originally referred to tightening a spring or rope; the sense of annoying someone arose in the 19th century, comparing emotional agitation to winding a mechanism.