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

So, what’s driving the Miami heat up? —Ashley Miznazi, Miami Herald, 5 Sep. 2025

The story was written at a time when the effects of the war were still very much in evidence, but people were moving on and trying to forget, working hard to pull the country out of poverty while beginning to see the economy heating up. —Ginny Tapley Takemori september 4, Literary Hub, 4 Sep. 2025

Alonso is heating up in the postseason. —Andrew Wright, MSNBC Newsweek, 4 Sep. 2025

The first, a constant pump power mode, allows the electrolyte to heat up naturally over several charge-discharge cycles. —Aman Tripathi, Interesting Engineering, 3 Sep. 2025

Rhymes for heat up

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