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

Mary Johnson, an independent Social Security and Medicare policy analyst, said the latest inflation trend gives her reason to consider the possibility that the COLA number could move up even higher to a 2.8% or above, if inflation heats up in August and September. —Susan Tompor, Freep.com, 20 Aug. 2025

Trade speculation is heating up with the Washington Commanders. —Justin Grasso, MSNBC Newsweek, 18 Aug. 2025

Hercules, still emotionally heated up from his tumultuous struggle, figured Chiron was just another hostile Centaur and hurled a spear at the gentle half-human-half-horse, doing him in. —Mike Lynch, Twin Cities, 17 Aug. 2025

In January, the bar cools into an icy-blue arctic landscape before heating up to celebrate Valentine’s Day in February. —Camila Pedrosa, Sacbee.com, 15 Aug. 2025

Rhymes for heat up

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