beef up
phrasal verb
beefed up; beefing up; beefs up
informal
: to add weight, strength, or power to (something)
Security around the city will be beefed up during the event.
a politician looking to beef his image up
Examples of beef up in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
The United States and Japan are dramatically beefing up their military cooperation and intelligence sharing, President Joe Biden said Wednesday, in an announcement widely seen as an effort to check an increasingly aggressive China.
—
Anna Mulrine Grobe, The Christian Science Monitor, 10 Apr. 2024
Virginia 12-month inflation: 3.8% The state has drawn residents, particularly to Northern Virginia, as the federal government in nearby Washington, D.C., has beefed up staffing following legislation to expand investments in infrastructure, chip manufacturing and clean energy, Zandi says.
—Paul Davidson, USA TODAY, 9 Apr. 2024
The chamber’s list of targets includes another unemployment insurance measure, Senate Bill 1434, which would raise taxes on employers to beef up the unemployment fund, although the extent of the increase is not yet specified.
—Dan Walters, The Mercury News, 9 Apr. 2024
Following his death, companies vowed to beef up their DEI efforts to make their staff more racially and culturally representative.
—Khristopher J. Brooks, CBS News, 3 Apr. 2024
The country has been able to leverage some of its $1.6 trillion sovereign wealth fund to provide generous tax breaks to drivers while also beefing up its electric infrastructure.
—Byryan Hogg, Fortune Europe, 3 Apr. 2024
The need for a broad mobilization to beef up the number of Ukrainian troops reportedly was one of the areas of disagreement between Zelenskyy and Gen. Valerii Zaluzhnyi, the popular commander in chief of Ukraine’s armed forces whom the president replaced in February.
—Reuters, NBC News, 3 Apr. 2024
Attack Israeli interests abroad After past attacks on Iran, Israel has often anticipated Iranian retaliation on its interests in foreign countries, and beefed up security at its embassies.
—Nadeen Ebrahim, CNN, 2 Apr. 2024
Banks are forced to spend more to beef up their technology to prevent criminal check fraud, and, even then, plenty of fake checks continue to get cashed.
—Susan Tompor, Detroit Free Press, 28 Mar. 2024
Anna Mulrine Grobe, The Christian Science Monitor, 10 Apr. 2024
Virginia 12-month inflation: 3.8% The state has drawn residents, particularly to Northern Virginia, as the federal government in nearby Washington, D.C., has beefed up staffing following legislation to expand investments in infrastructure, chip manufacturing and clean energy, Zandi says.
—Paul Davidson, USA TODAY, 9 Apr. 2024
The chamber’s list of targets includes another unemployment insurance measure, Senate Bill 1434, which would raise taxes on employers to beef up the unemployment fund, although the extent of the increase is not yet specified.
—Dan Walters, The Mercury News, 9 Apr. 2024
Following his death, companies vowed to beef up their DEI efforts to make their staff more racially and culturally representative.
—Khristopher J. Brooks, CBS News, 3 Apr. 2024
The country has been able to leverage some of its $1.6 trillion sovereign wealth fund to provide generous tax breaks to drivers while also beefing up its electric infrastructure.
—Byryan Hogg, Fortune Europe, 3 Apr. 2024
The need for a broad mobilization to beef up the number of Ukrainian troops reportedly was one of the areas of disagreement between Zelenskyy and Gen. Valerii Zaluzhnyi, the popular commander in chief of Ukraine’s armed forces whom the president replaced in February.
—Reuters, NBC News, 3 Apr. 2024
Attack Israeli interests abroad After past attacks on Iran, Israel has often anticipated Iranian retaliation on its interests in foreign countries, and beefed up security at its embassies.
—Nadeen Ebrahim, CNN, 2 Apr. 2024
Banks are forced to spend more to beef up their technology to prevent criminal check fraud, and, even then, plenty of fake checks continue to get cashed.
—Susan Tompor, Detroit Free Press, 28 Mar. 2024
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'beef up.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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Cite this Entry
“Beef up.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/beef%20up. Accessed 18 Apr. 2024.
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