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

This is like Da Bomb [hot sauce] heated up and put in a bowl. —Ashlyn Robinette, PEOPLE, 2 Oct. 2025

Woods’ pass rush has also heated up, as the Clemson junior now has four combined pressures in his last two games. —Nick Baumgardner, New York Times, 2 Oct. 2025

The back and forth of favored teams — which also prompted Prime Video to issue a warning and caution viewers against bullying and hate speech ahead of season three premiere — has continued to heat up even after the finale. —Lexy Perez, HollywoodReporter, 30 Sep. 2025

This lightweight, leave-in cream protects hair from heat up to 450°F while keeping frizz and flyaways in check. —Christa Joanna Lee, Allure, 30 Sep. 2025

Rhymes for heat up

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