heat up

phrasal verb

heated up; heating up; heats up

: to become warm or hot

The morning started out cold but it heated up quickly.

: to become more active, intense, or angry

Their conversation started to heat up.

Competition between the two companies is heating up.

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 Setting the stage for monsoon season Although monsoon season officially begins in June, Phoenix starts to heat up and atmospheric shifts occur in May as a prelude to the summer months. —

Hayleigh Evans, The Arizona Republic, 15 Aug. 2024 And as the weather got warmer, the category only continued to heat up, with dozens of new formulas coming out every day. —

Jackie Fields, Peoplemag, 15 Aug. 2024 Wang advises cooking food like vegetables in EVOO at lower temperatures, below 400°F, for just long enough to heat up the veggies—and for their health-giving properties to seep into the oil’s healthy fat. —

Matt Fuchs, TIME, 15 Aug. 2024 However, the cybersecurity company's dispute with Delta continues to heat up, after the global IT outage reportedly led to $500 million in damages that are still being sorted out. —

John Kell, Fortune, 14 Aug. 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.