heat up

phrasal verb

heated up; heating up; heats up

1

: to become warm or hot

The morning started out cold but it heated up quickly.

2

: to become more active, intense, or angry

Their conversation started to heat up.

Competition between the two companies is heating up.

3

heat (something) up or heat up (something) : to cause (something) to become warm or hot

Could you heat up the vegetables, please?

Examples of heat up in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The bowl diffuser features aluminum plates that heat up to expedite your dry time, and the comb attachment helps detangle without flattening out your ringlets. —Stacia Datskovska, Footwear News, 16 Oct. 2025

The paper doesn’t attempt to sort specific schools into tiers; that’s to be debated, or fought over, as implementation discussions heat up. —Luke Cyphers, Sportico.com, 16 Oct. 2025

The employees’ zeal was, in part, an acknowledgment of the space race that has heated up between the United States and China. —Denise Chow, NBC news, 16 Oct. 2025

For the past few months, the politician has made waves as his budding relationship with Perry continues to heat up. —Christina Dugan Ramirez, FOXNews.com, 16 Oct. 2025

Rhymes for heat up

• backup
• blowup
• breakup
• buildup
• checkup
• cleanup
• holdup
• hookup
• lineup
• lockup
• makeup
• markup