to deliberately make someone tense, annoyed, or angry, often by teasing or provoking them
Don't let him wind you up, he's only saying it to get a reaction.
I always get a bit wound up before a big interview.
He got really wound up about it. (tense / agitated) We wound up the meeting early. (finished it — sense)
Common mistake
✗He was really winded up before the exam.
✓He was really wound up before the exam.
The tense/on-edge participle is 'wound up' (rhymes with 'found'), not 'winded up'.
Tell it apart
He got really wound up about it.
tense / agitated
We wound up the meeting early.
finished it — sense
Separable: 'wind you up'. As a participle 'wound up' (rhymes with 'found') means tense or on edge.Close to the 'provoke/tease' sense, but here the focus is the resulting tense, agitated state ('all wound up'), not the act of teasing.
to bring something to an end, especially a meeting, event, or activity.
Let's wind up the meeting so everyone can get home on time.
A: Are we almost done? B: Yeah, let's wind up and head out for lunch.
In my opinion, it's important to wind up group projects with a clear summary so everyone knows what was achieved.
Common mistake
✗Let's wind up with the meeting.
✓Let's wind up the meeting.
'Wind up' takes the object directly — no 'with'.
Tell it apart
Let's wind up the meeting.
bring it to an end
I wound up exhausted.
ended up — sense
Use 'wind up' to talk about ending meetings, events, or activities, often in a formal or organized way.'Wind up' means to finish, while 'wind down' means to relax after something.
to find yourself in a particular situation, especially one you did not plan or expect.
We took a wrong turn and wound up in a completely different town.
A: How did you wind up working in Australia? B: Honestly, it just sort of happened after I went there on holiday.
Sometimes, people wind up living in cities they never expected because of job opportunities or family reasons.
Common mistake
✗I wind up to pay for everything.
✓I wound up paying for everything.
'Wind up + -ing', not a to-infinitive; past tense is 'wound up'.
Tell it apart
We wound up staying in.
ended up — unplanned
We wound up the meeting.
finished it — sense
Use 'wind up' to talk about ending up somewhere or in a situation, often by accident or without planning.'Wind up' is about unplanned results, while 'plan to' is about intention.
to deliberately tease, annoy, or provoke someone, often in a playful or irritating way.
He loves to wind his little sister up by hiding her toys.
A: Why does Sarah look so annoyed? B: Oh, Tom's been winding her up about her new haircut all morning.
While some people enjoy winding others up as a form of humour, this behaviour can easily cross the line and cause genuine irritation.
Common mistake
✗Stop winding up me.
✓Stop winding me up.
With a pronoun, the object goes in the middle: 'wind me up'.
Tell it apart
Stop winding me up.
provoking / teasing me
Let's wind up the meeting.
finish it — sense
'Wind someone up' is informal and common in British English. It is used when someone is deliberately trying to annoy or tease another person, sometimes as a joke, sometimes to irritate. Avoid in formal writing or professional contexts.This sense is different from 'wind up' meaning 'finish something' (B1) or 'end up in a situation' (B2). Here, the focus is on provoking or teasing a person, not ending or arriving somewhere.