follow-up

noun

fol·low-up | \ ˈfä-lō-ˌəp

Definition of follow-up

(Entry 1 of 3)

1a : the act or an instance of following up

b : something that follows up

2 : maintenance of contact with or reexamination of a person (such as a patient) especially following treatment The surgeon scheduled a follow-up with his patient a week after the surgery.

3 : a news story presenting new information on a story published earlier A few days after the story broke, the newspaper printed a follow-up.

follow-up

adjective

Definition of follow-up (Entry 2 of 3)

1 : of, relating to, or being something that follows up follow-up action by the police— Frank Faulkner had a few follow-up questions after the interview

2 : done, conducted, or administered in the course of following up persons follow-up care for discharged hospital patients

follow up

verb

followed up; following up; follows up

Definition of follow up (Entry 3 of 3)

transitive verb

1 : to follow with something similar, related, or supplementary following up his convictions with action— G. P. Merrill She followed up her first novel with a second one.

2 : to maintain contact with (a person) so as to monitor the effects of earlier activities or treatments All patients were followed up clinically for four months.

3 : to pursue in an effort to take further action the police are following up leads

intransitive verb

: to take appropriate action follow up on complaints

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Examples of follow-up in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web: Verb

It didn't hurt that the movie was followed up by Sierra Burgess is a Loser and his return of Jesus on The Fosters' spin-off Good Trouble. — Carolyn Twersky, Seventeen, "Noah Centineo's Large Net Worth is All Thanks to Netflix," 27 Mar. 2019 Teammate Kyle Busch swept both races last season, has already won three times this season and is trying to follow up a victory last weekend at Bristol. — Hank Kurz Jr, The Seattle Times, "Hamlin hoping for some hometown advantage," 12 Apr. 2019 The film also marked a bit of a comeback for the then-slumping Hanks, who had struggled to follow up Big with anything so, well, big. — Alissa Wilkinson, Vox, "Penny Marshall’s groundbreaking directing career, explained in 3 movies," 18 Dec. 2018 Johnson is attempting to follow up last year's victory in the PGA Senior Women's Championship with a win in another new major senior tournament. — Gene Chamberlain, chicagotribune.com, "Laura Davies, Trish Johnson share U.S. Senior Women's Open lead at Chicago Golf Club," 13 July 2018 Joey, our eight-year-old, applied a coat of primer, and over the next two days followed up with bright boat paint. — Popular Mechanics, "To Install a Pull-Up Bar, We Built a Surfboard," 23 Mar. 2019 The book was an unexpected hit, and the two followed up with For Her Own Good: Two Centuries of the Experts’ Advice to Women. — Gabriel Winant, The New Republic, "Barbara Ehrenreich’s radical critique of wellness and self-improvement," 23 May 2018 More than 100 people turned out for a community meeting, survey and walking tour, followed up with two stakeholder meetings and a separate discussion with the developer, RMS Investment Corp. — Thomas Jewell, cleveland.com, "Shaker frees up $850,000 in Vision Fund loans for Van Aken district," 1 May 2018 Could Putin follow up on his threat to target the USA? — Kyle Mizokami, Popular Mechanics, "As a Key Arms-Control Treaty Is Set to Die, Russia Threatens to Target U.S. with New Nukes," 20 Feb. 2019

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'follow-up.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

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Dictionary Entries near follow-up

follow-through

follow through

follow through on/with

follow-up

follow up

follow up on (something)

folly

Statistics for follow-up

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Time Traveler for follow-up

The first known use of follow-up was in 1767

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More Definitions for follow-up

follow-up

noun

English Language Learners Definition of follow-up

: something that continues or completes a process or activity

follow-up

noun

fol·low-up | \ ˈfäl-ə-ˌwəp, ˌfäl-

Medical Definition of follow-up

(Entry 1 of 2)

: maintenance of contact with a patient at one or more designated intervals following diagnosis or treatment especially to examine again or monitor the progress of therapy also : an instance of such contact At three-month and six-month follow-ups, he had only mild, residual facial swelling on the lower left side. — Meredith August et al., The New England Journal of Medicine, 29 Dec. 2005

Other Words from follow-up

follow-up adjective

a follow-up visit follow-up care When ovarian cancer is found, better follow-up procedures and more aggressive chemotherapy are prolonging remissions, even in women with advanced disease. — Mayo Clinic Health Letter, January 1992

follow up

transitive verb

\ ˌfäl-ə-ˈwəp

Medical Definition of follow up (Entry 2 of 2)

: to maintain contact with (a patient) at one or more designated intervals following diagnosis or treatment especially to examine again or monitor the progress of therapy patients who are followed up after their discharge She was discharged on postoperative day 4 and was followed up in the surgery clinic 19 days postoperatively.— Steven L. Bloom et al., The New England Journal of Medicine, 21 Oct. 2010