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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.  Also called 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

Etymology

Origin of follow-up

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

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

follow-up follow up follow-ups

Human rights activists believed those remains were linked to people who had disappeared during the civil war, but there was little judicial follow-up.

From BBC ● Sep. 20, 2026

De Palma’s follow-up opened nine years later with a cast stacked with rising Hollywood stars, including Scarlett Johansson, Josh Hartnett, Aaron Eckhart and Hilary Swank.

From Salon ● Sep. 18, 2026

Because the first maneuver was so accurate, mission controllers can wait longer before making the follow-up adjustment, which is now scheduled for later this month.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 18, 2026

After its follow-up drive went nowhere, Louisiana made the mistake of punting to Mosley, who took off sprinting to his right and didn’t stop until he reached paydirt.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 13, 2026

A follow-up might focus on blues, jazz and other genres inspired by the music of the Civil Rights movement.

From "Music and the Child" by Natalie Sarrazin

At every event, Kaminetsky handed out her contact information in case shoppers wanted to follow up.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 18, 2026

When Johnson called to follow up, Monk, by now feeling distrustful of everyone, suspected he was another phony and demanded to see a badge.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 14, 2026

"There's a lot of stuff for us to follow up," he said.

From BBC ● Aug. 27, 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

Did I follow up my proclamation with anything else?

From "Not Nothing" by Gayle Forman

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

While the original papers claimed advances for quantum computing and made their way into top scientific journals, the individual follow-ups could not make it past the editors at those same journals.

From Science Daily ● Mar. 29, 2026

We were to go home but would have to come back several times for follow-ups.

From "Tasting the Sky" by Ibtisam Barakat