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

The duo, known for fictional young adult content on YouTube, plans to keep leveling up their material while keeping it native to the internet. — Cerys Davies, Los Angeles Times, 8 July 2026

This major price cut allows esports players, computational students, and digital content creators to level up with a highly responsive computing hub without the strain of flagship retail pricing. — Juhi Wadia, PC Magazine, 6 July 2026

The Sharks’ blue line has certainly leveled up after adding Michael Kesselring (an excellent buy-low move), Jacob Trouba and Nurse, but the contractual value of the latter two is questionable. — Corey Pronman, New York Times, 1 July 2026

The book is often about the ways in which wellness and self-care have become commodified and exploited — having to level up to buy things in order to feel good. — Fran Hoepfner, Vulture, 25 June 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