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• hang-up
  hang-up

  noun

  a preoccupation, fixation, or psychological block; complex.
• hang up
  hang up

  verb

  (tr) to put on a hook, hanger, etc

hang-up

American  

[hang-uhp] / ˈhæŋˌʌp /

Or hangup

noun

Slang.

• hang-ups
  plural

1. a preoccupation, fixation, or psychological block; complex.

   His hang-up is trying to outdo his brother.

2. a source of annoying difficulty or burden; impediment; snag.

   The most serious hang-up the project has is a shortage of funds.

3. a fixture, object, or decoration that can be affixed to a wall, ceiling, other objects, etc..

   He brightened up the room with flower baskets and other hang-ups.

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hang up British  

verb

1. (tr) to put on a hook, hanger, etc

   please hang up your coat

2. to replace (a telephone receiver) on its cradle at the end of a conversation, often breaking a conversation off abruptly

3. informal to cause to have an emotional or psychological preoccupation or problem

   he's really hung up on his mother

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noun

1. an emotional or psychological preoccupation or problem

2. a persistent cause of annoyance

hang up Idioms  

1. Suspend on a hook or hanger, as in Let me hang up your coat for you . [c. 1300]

2. Also, hang up on . Replace a telephone receiver in its cradle; end a phone conversation. For example, She hung up the phone , or He hung up on her . [Early 1900s]

3. Delay or hinder; also, become halted or snagged, as in Budget problems hung up the project for months , or Traffic was hung up for miles . [Second half of 1800s]

4. Have or cause to have emotional difficulties, as in Being robbed at gunpoint can hang one up for years to come . [ Slang ; early 1900s]

5. hung up on . Obsessed with, as in For years the FBI was hung up on Communist spies . [First half of 1900s]

6. . Quit, retire, as in He's hanging up his sword next year and moving to Florida . The noun in these expressions refers to the profession one is leaving— sword for the military, gloves for boxing, and fiddle for music—but they all are used quite loosely as well, as in the example.

7. hang up one's hat . Settle somewhere, reside, as in “Eight hundred a year, and as nice a house as any gentleman could wish to hang up his hat in” (Anthony Trollope, The Warden , 1855).

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• hang-ups
  plural

Etymology

Origin of hang-up

First recorded in 1955–60; noun use of verb phrase hang up

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

hang-up hang up hang-ups

The biggest hang-up with his nomination was not that there was a lack of organic support among Senate Republicans.

From Slate ● Apr. 25, 2026

Here’s my hang-up: Artificial intelligence genuinely freaks me out.

From MarketWatch ● Apr. 24, 2026

The hang-up was over the potential for Nvidia processors to eventually end up in China.

From Barron's ● Nov. 3, 2025

Fire crews responding to a 911 hang-up call about 2:22 a.m. found a 1,096-square-foot, single-story home on fire in the 3500 block of South May Street, according to a Fire Department news release.

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 8, 2023

Maybe it was my own personal hang-up, but I felt like both girls were waiting to see if I would flip out or something.

From "100 Sideways Miles" by Andrew Smith

I’m constantly forced to hang up on clients—people with real needs—to solve one of Wiatt’s nonproblems.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 15, 2026

One pictures McConnell’s aides staring at the hospital clock, counting the seconds until 20 minutes have passed, and being pleased to inform the senator that he can hang up.

From Slate ● Jul. 11, 2026

Its Intel profits alone would make Gordon Gekko hang up his suspenders.

From Barron's ● May 29, 2026

Usyk, who extended his undefeated record to 25 wins, consistently said in the build-up to this bout that he still wanted to fight on two more occasions before considering whether to hang up the gloves.

From BBC ● May 24, 2026

“Good-bye,” he said, and started to hang up.

From "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" by Philip K. Dick

Simon is often his own worst enemy, letting his self-absorption and professional hang-ups derail him.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 3, 2026

These unofficial sessions, in which Daphne recalls wholesome, inspiring moments of communion with Eddie, cure her of pretty much all her childhood hang-ups.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 29, 2026

Africans should welcome all foreign investors and put colonial hang-ups behind them, Nigerian businessman and philanthropist Tony Elumelu told AFP.

From Barron's ● May 13, 2026

But it does allow The Captain to get to a place at the end where he can move beyond his personal hang-ups and start thinking about his people and the bigger picture.

From Salon ● May 27, 2024

And in any case, he would never go back to her, not after everything she did to him, to us—all the harassment, all those late-night phone calls, hang-ups, text messages.

From "The Girl on the Train" by Paula Hawkins

Related Words

• inhibition