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
And sure enough, the radiation heated up the samples’ surfaces quickly enough to send them into a steady free flight.
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Michael Irving, New Atlas, 23 Sep. 2024
Some agents say that the Federal Reserve’s decision earlier this week to cut interest rates by half a percentage point — the first cut in four years — could heat up an otherwise cooler fall home selling season, bringing exhausted buyers like the Changs back into the market.
—Kate Talerico, The Mercury News, 22 Sep. 2024
And there's certainly signs here this morning that this conflict is only heating up.
—ABC News, 22 Sep. 2024
As matter falls toward its demise in a black hole, some of that dense detritus heats up, encounters the black hole’s magnetic field and, as a result, escapes its gravitational leash as intense outbursts of light and particles.
—Shi En Kim, Smithsonian Magazine, 20 Sep. 2024
See all Example Sentences for heat up 
Michael Irving, New Atlas, 23 Sep. 2024
Some agents say that the Federal Reserve’s decision earlier this week to cut interest rates by half a percentage point — the first cut in four years — could heat up an otherwise cooler fall home selling season, bringing exhausted buyers like the Changs back into the market.
—Kate Talerico, The Mercury News, 22 Sep. 2024
And there's certainly signs here this morning that this conflict is only heating up.
—ABC News, 22 Sep. 2024
As matter falls toward its demise in a black hole, some of that dense detritus heats up, encounters the black hole’s magnetic field and, as a result, escapes its gravitational leash as intense outbursts of light and particles.
—Shi En Kim, Smithsonian Magazine, 20 Sep. 2024
See all Example Sentences for heat up
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'heat up.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near heat up
Cite this Entry
“Heat up.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/heat%20up. Accessed 2 Oct. 2024.
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