level up

verb

leveled up or levelled up; leveling up or levelling up; levels up

transitive + intransitive

: to advance or improve (oneself, someone else, or something) in or as if in a game

Collect cards and magic potions, then level up your favourite dragons to increase their abilities.

—Animation Xpress

Staying competitive comes down to many factors, but one that's often overlooked, in my opinion, is the ongoing need to level up your marketing team.

—Sujan Patel

That [Kevin] Reilly has leveled up the brands of both networks is clear in their programming selections.

—Broadcasting and Cable

We provide nurses with the tools they need to level up their careers and their profession …

—News & Record (Greensboro, North Carolina)

Leveling up and finding new weapons, armor, or items give you plenty of incentive to keep slashing and button mashing away.

—Dan Hsu

Companies coax helpers to participate by offering points for useful answers, connecting total points to specific achievement levels, and encouraging users to level up, for even greater prestige.

—Paul McFedries

Examples of level up in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Your next level up may require more solitude, Cancer. —Valerie Mesa, PEOPLE, 2 June 2026

In the middle of a Canada training session, Osorio’s young teammate Niko Sigur had levelled up from typically intense to livid. —Joshua Kloke, New York Times, 1 June 2026

The GelBottle Inc founder and CEO Daisy Kalnina suggests the brand’s warm Queen Bee shade, the bright Banana Split, or layering Iced Chrome over a buttery shade for any glam maximalists wanting to level up the trend. —Anna Cafolla, Vogue, 29 May 2026

The gap that actually matters is one, two, three levels up — the leaders shaping how their teams work. —Rob Giglio, Fortune, 28 May 2026

Word History

First Known Use

2003, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for level up

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