step-up

or step·up

[ step-uhp ]
See synonyms for step-up on Thesaurus.com
adjective
  1. effecting an increase.

  2. Electricity. serving to increase voltage: a step-up transformer.

  1. (of a lease) allowing for gradual rent increases to the highest amount permissible.

noun
  1. an increase or rise in the rate or quantity of something.

Origin of step-up

1
First recorded in 1890–95; adj., noun use of verb phrase step up

Words Nearby step-up

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use step-up in a sentence

  • As we are quite invisible, we just step up beside the driver as the engine moves, and he knows nothing about us.

    Little Folks | Various
  • And 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 Marchant
  • Nodding and smirking at Morsfield's approach, she entreated Aminta to step up and in, for the horses were coming out of the yard.

  • Then, 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 Cooper
  • While 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

step up

verb(adverb) informal
  1. (tr) to increase or raise by stages; accelerate

  2. (intr) to make progress or effect an advancement; be promoted

  1. step up to the plate US

    • baseball to move into batting position

    • to come forward and take responsibility for something

adjectivestep-up (prenominal)
  1. (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)

  2. informal involving a rise by stages

nounstep-up
  1. 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

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.