sexing up
Making more appealing
Sexing up is making something more exciting, appealing, or provocative—often by embellishing or exaggerating.
The phrase gained notoriety in British politics when the government was accused of "sexing up" intelligence reports to justify the Iraq War.
More broadly, it applies to any attempt to make dull material more attention-grabbing: The editor wanted to sex up the headline.
- embellishingAdding decorative details
- gilding the lilyEmbellishing the already beautiful
- hypersexualizationExcessive emphasis on sexuality
- sensationalizingPresenting as more exciting
- spicing upMaking less bland
seduction · provocation · exaggerating · punching up · spin · window dressing · allure · glorifying · framing · augmenting · romanticization · tarting up · dressing up · polishing · beautifying · jazzing up · amplifying · charm
sexing uptoning down
Lessening force or impact
downplaying · understating · playing down · de-emphasizing · minimizing
sexing uptoning down
Lessening force or impact
bowdlerizing · sanitizing · cleaning up · censoring · purifying
sex, sexed, sexy, sexier, sexiest, sexily, sexiness, sexual, sexually