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
While Russia and China have dedicated significant resources to beefing up their own security position in the Arctic, America has fallen woefully behind.
—
Tristan Bove, Fortune, 30 Jan. 2026
Debates over how to manage predators can be fierce, but beefing up the state’s ability to respond is uniting groups that are often at odds.
—Lila Seidman, Los Angeles Times, 29 Jan. 2026
The song also came together very rapidly and with little time to beef up the production quality or instrumentals.
—Julyssa Lopez, Rolling Stone, 26 Jan. 2026
Iraq has beefed up patrols along its border with Syria.
—Arkansas Online, 23 Jan. 2026
See All Example Sentences for beef up
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Tristan Bove, Fortune, 30 Jan. 2026
Debates over how to manage predators can be fierce, but beefing up the state’s ability to respond is uniting groups that are often at odds.
—Lila Seidman, Los Angeles Times, 29 Jan. 2026
The song also came together very rapidly and with little time to beef up the production quality or instrumentals.
—Julyssa Lopez, Rolling Stone, 26 Jan. 2026
Iraq has beefed up patrols along its border with Syria.
—Arkansas Online, 23 Jan. 2026
See All Example Sentences for beef up
Cite this Entry
“Beef up.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/beef%20up. Accessed 2 Feb. 2026.
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