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 Los Angeles Lakers are heading into what could become a wild offseason as NBA free agency begins to heat up. —Evan Massey, MSNBC Newsweek, 30 June 2025

The action began to heat up over the weekend as teams began dealing in an effort to carve out cap space for free agents. —Julia Poe, Chicago Tribune, 30 June 2025

The game itself started to heat up too, both sides came close, tackles flew in and there was even a touchline scuffle. —Joseph O'Sullivan, Forbes.com, 30 June 2025

With July right around the corner, the summer travel season is really starting to heat up. —Amelia McBride, Travel + Leisure, 28 June 2025

Rhymes for heat up

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