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• follow-up
  follow-up

  noun

  the act of following up.
• follow up
  follow up

  verb

  to pursue or investigate (a person, evidence, etc) closely

follow-up

American  

[fol-oh-uhp] / ˈfɒl oʊˌʌp /

noun

• follow-ups
  plural

1. the act of following up.

2. an action or thing that serves to increase the effectiveness of a previous one, as a second or subsequent letter, phone call, or visit.

3. Also called follow. Journalism.

   1. a news story providing additional information on a story or article previously published.

   2. Also called supplementary story, sidebar. a minor news story used to supplement a related story of major importance.

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adjective

1. designed or serving to follow up, especially to increase the effectiveness of a previous action.

   a follow-up interview; a follow-up offer.

2. of or relating to action that follows an initial treatment, course of study, etc..

   follow-up care for mental patients; a follow-up survey.

follow up British  

verb

1. to pursue or investigate (a person, evidence, etc) closely

2. to continue (action) after a beginning, esp to increase its effect

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noun

1. 1. something done to reinforce an initial action

   2. ( as modifier )

      a follow-up letter

2. med a routine examination of a patient at various intervals after medical or surgical treatment

follow up Idioms  

1. Carry to completion. For example, I'm following up their suggestions with concrete proposals . Also see follow through .

2. Increase the effectiveness or enhance the success of something by further action. For example, She followed up her interview with a phone call . [Late 1700s]

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• follow-ups
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of follow-up

First recorded in 1920–25; noun, adj. use of verb phrase follow up

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

follow-up follow up follow-ups

Last year’s best documentary never left us because Julia Loktev’s epic “My Undesirable Friends” is back for a similarly excellent follow-up we need now more than ever.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 16, 2026

The benefits persisted for at least 12 months, with 80% of patients assessed at the one-year follow-up reporting clinically meaningful pain relief.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 14, 2026

Although a consultant determined he needed to be reviewed again in six months, he received no follow-up appointment.

From BBC ● Oct. 14, 2026

She also ordered the government to give three business days' notice before making any further "irreparable modification" to the East Potomac golf course and scheduled a follow-up hearing for October 19.

From Barron's ● Oct. 13, 2026

At a follow-up meeting in Boston a few weeks later, the women’s rights advocates were distraught to learn that many abolitionists planned to focus only on winning the vote for black men.

From "Votes for Women!" by Winifred Conkling

The literature laureate will be revealed on Thursday, with some pundits suggesting that the Swedish Academy could follow up last year's award to Hungary's Laszlo Krasznahorkai with a woman writer, possibly from Latin America.

From Barron's ● Oct. 5, 2026

Regulators will be able to to find leaks and follow up faster to make sure operators have made repairs, Buckley added.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 1, 2026

At the end of the meeting, the investor was directed to follow up with Marafatsos.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 25, 2026

I want to follow up on what you said about standing doctrine and the environmental cases.

From Slate ● Sep. 22, 2026

When Valerie called me a few days later to follow up, I told her I was still thinking the offer over.

From "Becoming" by Michelle Obama

He pointedly allowed just one question each from journalists who in past news conferences got to ask follow-ups.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 16, 2026

The human interaction, back-and-forth questions and follow-ups are essential to keep their stories authentic and anti-AI — a system that is proving to be detrimental to teaching writing skills.

From Salon ● Aug. 24, 2026

"People don't know when to expect a reply or who else can help, and that uncertainty is what leads to the 'just-in-case' follow-ups," says Charlotte Davies, a career expert at Linkedin.

From BBC ● Aug. 17, 2026

The British agent had not appeared in a game title for more than a decade before "First Light" -- with follow-ups to 1997 Nintendo 64 mega-hit "Goldeneye" leaving most players neither shaken nor stirred.

From Barron's ● May 26, 2026

When we were little, we’d ask, “Why do people go to the bathroom?” or “Why do you need a job?” and then blitz them with follow-ups.

From "Becoming" by Michelle Obama

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