Meaning & use
to heat up
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Meanings
phrasetransitive
To make something warm or hot.
Grammar: Takes an object: heat up the soup. The object can go between heat and up.
Patterns
- heat up something
- heat something up
She heated up the leftovers for dinner.
Can you heat up some water for tea?
He heated the soup up in the microwave.
phraseintransitive
To become warm or hot.
Grammar: No object: the room heated up. Often used for weather or machines.
Patterns
- heat up
- the weather heats up
The oven needs to heat up before you put the cake in.
The weather heated up quickly in the afternoon.
As the engine heated up, it started making a strange noise.
phraseintransitivefigurative
To become more intense or exciting.
Grammar: No object; often used about situations or competitions.
Patterns
- the competition heats up
- the debate heats up
The race for the championship is heating up.
The discussion heated up when they disagreed about money.
Word forms
| third person singular | heats up |
|---|---|
| past tense | heated up |
| past participle | heated up |
| -ing form | heating up |
Common combinations
- heat up the food
- I'll heat up the food when you arrive.
- heat up quickly
- This pan heats up quickly.
- the weather heats up
- The weather heats up in July.
- the competition heats up
- The competition heats up in the final round.
Synonyms and how they differ
- warm up
- Suggests making something slightly warm, not fully hot.
- reheat
- Means to heat food that has already been cooked and cooled; more formal.
Opposites
Word family
Practice
Can you ______ the soup for me?
Choose one answer.
Heat up is the phrasal verb meaning to make something hot. Heat alone is also possible but less common in everyday speech for food.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “to heat up”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.