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

In order to meet this challenge, Bassil used carbon nanotubes that form layers one one-hundredth the thickness of a human hair (instead of metal oxides that need to heat up) as the conduction material. — Shirl Leigh june 26, New Atlas, 26 June 2026

The market for hot sauce is heating up—and spicy Southern staple Crystal is capitalizing on the opportunity. — Danielle Chemtob, Forbes.com, 26 June 2026

This July, nail colors are heating up with luxe blues, simmering reds, and tropical corals. — Ariel Wodarcyk, InStyle, 26 June 2026

Then Kansas City will begin to heat up. — Kansas City Star, 26 June 2026

Rhymes for heat up

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