step-up
or step·up
effecting an increase.
Electricity. serving to increase voltage: a step-up transformer.
(of a lease) allowing for gradual rent increases to the highest amount permissible.
an increase or rise in the rate or quantity of something.
Origin of step-up
1Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use step-up in a sentence
He urged him to “force the president to step up to the plate and take responsibility for his actions.”
How the Reagan White House Bungled Its Response to Iran-Contra Revelations | Malcolm Byrne | November 3, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTEvery other year Adam Shankman was doing a Step Up movie and we could give them a role in that as a prize.
Nigel Lythgoe on How to Save Reality TV, ‘On the Town,’ and ‘Brokeback Ballroom’ | Kevin Fallon | October 22, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTA video and images of actress Briana Evigan of the Step Up films also leaked.
‘The Fappening 3’: More Celeb Nudes of Cara Delevingne and Others Leak Online | Marlow Stern | September 26, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTThe nurse pleaded with the UN Security Council, and the international community as a whole, to step up their response.
Health Care Worker Pleads With UN: Help Ebola Victims Dying ‘Horrible, Undignified Death’ | Abby Haglage | September 18, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTThe U.S. should step up intelligence cooperation with India to prevent and deter attacks such as the ones in Mumbai and Herat.
Nuclear Pakistan's Spies Target India—and Their Own Prime Minister | Bruce Riedel | September 4, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
As we are quite invisible, we just step up beside the driver as the engine moves, and he knows nothing about us.
Little Folks | VariousAnd the human creatures were requested to step up and help themselves to such as suited their tastes.
Unveiling a Parallel | Alice Ilgenfritz Jones and Ella MarchantNodding and smirking at Morsfield's approach, she entreated Aminta to step up and in, for the horses were coming out of the yard.
Lord Ormont and his Aminta, Complete | George MeredithThen, advancing with a slow and noiseless step up the area, he placed himself immediately before the footstool of the sage.
The Last of the Mohicans | James Fenimore CooperWhile this is being done, ladies and gentlemen, I wish that three of you would step up on the stage.
A Parody Outline of History | Donald Ogden Stewart
British Dictionary definitions for step up
(tr) to increase or raise by stages; accelerate
(intr) to make progress or effect an advancement; be promoted
step up to the plate US
baseball to move into batting position
to come forward and take responsibility for something
(of a transformer) increasing a low voltage applied to the primary winding to a higher voltage on the secondary winding: Compare step down (def. 4)
informal involving a rise by stages
informal an increment in quantity, size, etc
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Other Idioms and Phrases with step-up
Increase, especially in stages, as in We've got to step up production. [Early 1900s] Also see step down, def. 2.
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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