heat up

heat up — phrasal verb

  • heat upbase form
  • heats up3rd person singular
  • heating up-ing form
  • heated uppast simple

1. for something that was cool or cold to become warmer or hot, either because heat

1.片語動詞不及物A2
釋義

for something that was cool or cold to become warmer or hot, either because heat is applied to it or because the weather or surrounding temperature changes.

例句

The oven takes about ten minutes to heat up before you can bake bread.

intransitive: appliance heats up by itself

Tariro let the engine heat up before driving the car out of the garage.

intransitive: engine heats up before driving

同義詞
  • warm up

    less intense — warming up suggests a gentler temperature increase than heating up

  • get hot

    more informal and general, used for weather and objects equally

反義詞
  • cool down

    the opposite process

  • cool off

    suggests a more natural, gradual temperature drop

文法句型

[thing] heats up

[thing] is heating up

[thing] has heated up

用法筆記

This sense is intransitive — the subject becomes hot by itself or through natural processes. Compare with the transitive sense (sense 3) where a person actively heats something up.

常見錯誤

❌I heated up the soup in the microwave.' (when meaning the soup got hot by itself)
✅The soup heated up in the microwave.
💡When there is no object after 'heat up', the subject is the thing getting hotter by itself.

2. for a situation, discussion, competition, or conflict to become more intense, ac

2.片語動詞不及物B2
釋義

for a situation, discussion, competition, or conflict to become more intense, active, or exciting — for example, an election campaign that gets more competitive, or a business rivalry that becomes fiercer.

例句

The competition for university places heats up every year around exam season.

figurative: competition heats up

The debate about the new park heated up when local families joined the discussion.

figurative: debate heats up

同義詞
  • intensify

    more formal; suggests a controlled increase in force or degree

  • escalate

    often implies the situation is getting worse or more serious

  • hot up

    British English informal; same meaning as heat up

反義詞
  • cool down

    figurative use for when emotions or tensions decrease

  • die down

    suggests a gradual reduction in intensity

文法句型

[situation] heats up

[competition] is heating up

[debate] heated up

用法筆記

Only used for abstract situations, not for physical temperature. Frequently used with nouns like competition, debate, campaign, race, rivalry, and battle.

常見錯誤

❌The soup heated up on the stove.' (when using the figurative sense for literal heat)
✅The soup heated up on the stove.
💡This sentence uses the literal sense (sense 1), not the figurative one. Reserve sense 2 for situations, arguments, and competitions.

3. to cause food, liquid, or another substance to become hotter by putting it on a

3.片語動詞及物A2
釋義

to cause food, liquid, or another substance to become hotter by putting it on a stove, inside an oven or microwave, or near another heat source.

例句

Rania heated up the leftover curry and ate it with fresh rice.

separable: heat up [noun]

Can you heat the milk up for the baby's bottle before bedtime?

separable: heat [noun] up with object between

同義詞
  • warm up

    gentler; used when something only needs to be made slightly warmer rather than hot

  • reheat

    specifically for food that was previously hot but has cooled

  • heat through

    suggests making something hot all the way to the centre

反義詞
  • cool down

    to make something less hot

  • cool off

    to let or make something reach a lower temperature

文法句型

heat up [noun]

heat [noun] up

heat [pronoun] up

用法筆記

This is a separable phrasal verb. When the object is a pronoun (it, them), it MUST go between 'heat' and 'up': 'heat it up', NOT 'heat up it'. When the object is a noun phrase, either position works: 'heat up the soup' or 'heat the soup up'.

常見錯誤

❌Can you heat up it for me?
✅Can you heat it up for me?
💡When using a pronoun as the object, it must come between 'heat' and 'up'.