follow-up
noun
the act of following up.
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follow-up emails.
follow-up
American
[fol-oh-uhp]
/ ˈfɒl oʊˌʌp /
noun
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follow-ups
plural
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the act of following up.
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an action or thing that serves to increase the effectiveness of a previous one, as a second or subsequent letter, phone call, or visit.
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Also called follow. Journalism.
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a news story providing additional information on a story or article previously published.
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Also called supplementary story, sidebar. a minor news story used to supplement a related story of major importance.
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adjective
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designed or serving to follow up, especially to increase the effectiveness of a previous action.
a follow-up interview; a follow-up offer.
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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
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to pursue or investigate (a person, evidence, etc) closely
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to continue (action) after a beginning, esp to increase its effect
noun
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something done to reinforce an initial action
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( as modifier )
a follow-up letter
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med a routine examination of a patient at various intervals after medical or surgical treatment
follow up
Idioms
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Carry to completion. For example, I'm following up their suggestions with concrete proposals . Also see follow through .
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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]
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of follow-up
First recorded in 1920–25; noun, adj. use of verb phrase follow up
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Her new follow-up to her 2016 article is titled “In Fighting for Every Black Child, Did I Betray My Own?”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 25, 2026
The Mogwai and his misbehaved progeny debuted in the 1984 holiday classic “Gremlins” and returned in the 1990 follow-up, “Gremlins 2: The New Batch.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 24, 2026
His team asked follow-up questions to see if they could figure out what was going on.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 24, 2026
On Wednesday, Swift announced that “Patient Zero” will be part of a short follow-up to last year’s The Life of a Showgirl, featuring four songs and titled The Encore.
From Slate ● Sep. 23, 2026
Each day had been filled with surgeries and follow-up surgeries, physical therapy, daily visits from his mother and from Garvey, and a constant flow of visitors from the Circle wishing him well.
From "Touching Spirit Bear" by Ben Mikaelsen
I want to follow up on what you said about standing doctrine and the environmental cases.
From Slate ● Sep. 22, 2026
Submit your name and email using the form here and we’ll follow up by email.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 14, 2026
"No, of course it is early," the head coach was quick to follow up.
From BBC ● Sep. 5, 2026
“There may be loopholes that folks find in this one, and they have to follow up and close those loopholes,” he said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 27, 2026
The stress of having to follow up on my first-place finish at Trials was getting to me.
From "Courage to Soar" by Simone Biles
These improvements remained evident during follow-ups at three and six months, suggesting that the psychological effects were stable over time.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 18, 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 follow-ups, “Be Her” and “I Can’t Love You Anymore,” have also been popular.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 26, 2026
Moreover, the follow-ups indicated to Disney that other Pixar franchises could be a viable revenue stream, no matter the public’s response to the films.
From Salon ● Jun. 6, 2026
We were to go home but would have to come back several times for follow-ups.
From "Tasting the Sky" by Ibtisam Barakat
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
