English Reference
Idiom idiom

trump up

Meaning

To create falsely, to fabricate (particularly applied to accusations, (legal) charges or evidence).

Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Examples
SIMPLE

“They tried to trump up charges against him.”

CONTEXTUAL

“The corrupt official attempted to trump up evidence to ruin his political rival's reputation.”

COMPLEX

“Fearing the loss of his authority, the tyrant ordered his guards to trump up a series of treasonous accusations against the innocent scholar.”

Anchors to
Related idioms2entries
  1. 01

    put someone to their trumps

    To put someone in a difficult situation.

  2. 02

    turn up trumps

    To end up being successful when doing so was uncertain or unlikely.

Last updated August 10, 2026