heat up

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

Sometimes, cloudy places just aren’t as cloudy for a few months, which lets more sunlight in and heats up the ocean. —Dillon Amaya, The Conversation, 12 June 2026

The meteoroid heats up tremendously as well, ablating—blowing off—material from its surface, often leaving a lingering bright streak called a train. —Phil Plait, Scientific American, 12 June 2026

As the primary races for Kansas governor heat up, Democratic candidates are taking shots at each other over the Kansas City Chiefs’ planned $3 billion stadium in Wyandotte County. —Matthew Kelly, Kansas City Star, 11 June 2026

According to the Journal of the American Medical Association, asphalt can heat up to 135 degrees when the air temperature is 86 degrees. —Sacbee.com, 10 June 2026

Rhymes for heat up

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