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 36-year-old MSU alumnus was taking Luiz’s field course to beef up his archaeology skills for his job in cultural resource management for the U.S. Army.
—
Elizabeth Hernandez, Denver Post, 20 June 2025
And there are myriad issues for SpaceX's engineers to solve, from engine reliability and the ship's resonant frequency, to beefing up the ship's heat shield and fixing its balky payload bay door.
—ArsTechnica, 19 June 2025
Washington — In an internal memo obtained by CBS News, the Justice Department ordered its 93 federal prosecutors' offices to beef up preparations for criminal cases stemming from unrest in communities across the country over immigration enforcement.
—Scott MacFarlane, CBS News, 12 June 2025
The state assembly recently beefed up his budget with a $25 million additional budget authorization.
—David Blackmon, Forbes.com, 12 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for beef up
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Elizabeth Hernandez, Denver Post, 20 June 2025
And there are myriad issues for SpaceX's engineers to solve, from engine reliability and the ship's resonant frequency, to beefing up the ship's heat shield and fixing its balky payload bay door.
—ArsTechnica, 19 June 2025
Washington — In an internal memo obtained by CBS News, the Justice Department ordered its 93 federal prosecutors' offices to beef up preparations for criminal cases stemming from unrest in communities across the country over immigration enforcement.
—Scott MacFarlane, CBS News, 12 June 2025
The state assembly recently beefed up his budget with a $25 million additional budget authorization.
—David Blackmon, Forbes.com, 12 June 2025
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 28 Jun. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share