blow up vs intumesce

blow up and intumesce both are verbs.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
blow up	No	No	Yes	No
intumesce	No	No	Yes	No

As verbs, intumesce is a hypernym of blow up; that is, intumesce is a word with a broader meaning than blow up:

Other hypernyms of blow up include swell, swell up, tumefy, tumesce.

blow up (verb)	intumesce (verb)
make large	expand abnormally
exaggerate or make bigger	move upwards in bubbles, as from the effect of heating; also used metaphorically
to swell or cause to enlarge
cause to burst with a violent release of energy
fill with gas or air
burst and release energy as through a violent chemical or physical reaction
add details to
get very angry and fly into a rage