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

California family discusses ongoing legal and political battle to 'save girls sports' as issue heats up Taylor and Ryan Starling of Riverside, California, discussed their ongoing lawsuit over trans inclusion in girls sports. —Jackson Thompson, FOXNews.com, 20 June 2025

Today’s top stories Tensions over the raids are heating up An ICE raid at a Home Depot in Hollywood shattered an immigrant refuge. —Gustavo Arellano, Los Angeles Times, 20 June 2025

As the official start of summer arrives, things are heating up in the WNBA. —Devin Robertson, MSNBC Newsweek, 20 June 2025

With today being the first official day of summer, things are definitely heating up. —Okla Jones, Essence, 20 June 2025

Rhymes for heat up

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