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

Elastocaloric cooling systems exploit shape-memory alloys, which heat up when a mechanical load is applied and cool down when that load is released. — ArsTechnica, 1 Sep. 2026

Competition is heating up as both Tandem Diabetes Care and Medtronic are pursuing the same Type 2 opportunity. — Harvey Stober, CNBC, 1 Sep. 2026

The awards season is heating up with the fall festivals underway, and Emily Blunt is in line for one of its marquee tributes. — Clayton Davis, Variety, 1 Sep. 2026

This hefty, 16-pound steel heats up quickly and holds onto that heat. — Adam Campbell-Schmitt, Bon Appetit Magazine, 31 Aug. 2026

Rhymes for heat up

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