"step up" meaning in English

See step up in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Verb

Audio: En-au-step up.ogg [Australia] Forms: steps up [present, singular, third-person], stepping up [participle, present], stepped up [participle, past], stepped up [past]
Head templates: {{en-verb|*}} step up (third-person singular simple present steps up, present participle stepping up, simple past and past participle stepped up)
  1. (transitive, idiomatic) To increase, augment, or advance, especially by one or more steps. Tags: idiomatic, transitive Translations (to increase speed or rate): apressar (Catalan), versnellen (Dutch), verhogen (Dutch), nopeuttaa (Finnish), kiihdyttää (Finnish), accroître (French), augmenter (French), εντείνω (enteíno) (Greek), acelerar (Ido), wzmagać (Polish), przyspieszyć (Polish), нарастить (narastitʹ) [figuratively, perfective] (Russian), поднажать (podnažatʹ) [informal, perfective] (Russian), aumentar (Spanish), redoblar (Spanish), steppa upp (Swedish)
    Sense id: en-step_up-en-verb-N1cwl1q0
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Etymology number: 1

Verb

Audio: En-au-step up.ogg [Australia] Forms: steps up [present, singular, third-person], stepping up [participle, present], stepped up [participle, past], stepped up [past]
Etymology: Ellipsis of step up to the plate (“take one's turn at bat, take responsibility”). Etymology templates: {{ellipsis|en|step up to the plate||take one's turn at bat, take responsibility}} Ellipsis of step up to the plate (“take one's turn at bat, take responsibility”) Head templates: {{en-verb|*}} step up (third-person singular simple present steps up, present participle stepping up, simple past and past participle stepped up)
  1. (intransitive, idiomatic) To assume or take responsibility. Tags: idiomatic, intransitive Synonyms: volunteer, offer Translations (to assume responsibility): ottaa vastuulleen (Finnish), ottaa tehtäväkseen (Finnish), ottaa haaste vastaan (Finnish), tarttua haasteeseen (english: to step up to the challenge) (Finnish), вызваться (vyzvatʹsja) [perfective] (Russian), взяться (vzjatʹsja) [perfective] (Russian), dar un paso adelante (Spanish)
    Sense id: en-step_up-en-verb-VcbKIz45 Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, English phrasal verbs with particle (up) Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 44 56 Disambiguation of English phrasal verbs with particle (up): 31 69
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Etymology number: 2

Inflected forms

Download JSON data for step up meaning in English (6.7kB)

{
  "descendants": [
    {
      "depth": 1,
      "templates": [
        {
          "args": {
            "1": "sv",
            "2": "steppa upp",
            "bor": "1"
          },
          "expansion": "→ Swedish: steppa upp",
          "name": "desc"
        }
      ],
      "text": "→ Swedish: steppa upp"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_number": 1,
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "steps up",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "stepping up",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "stepped up",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "stepped up",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "*"
      },
      "expansion": "step up (third-person singular simple present steps up, present participle stepping up, simple past and past participle stepped up)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "Near-synonym: level up"
        },
        {
          "text": "They will need to step up production if they are going to compete.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "text": "Step up your shower game!",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2012 May 13, Alistair Magowan, “Sunderland 0-1 Man Utd”, in BBC Sport",
          "text": "United were made to pay for letting an eight-point lead as little as five weeks ago slip and, despite their final-day efforts, they will look back on a season where, when they needed to step up, they fell flat.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To increase, augment, or advance, especially by one or more steps."
      ],
      "id": "en-step_up-en-verb-N1cwl1q0",
      "links": [
        [
          "increase",
          "increase"
        ],
        [
          "augment",
          "augment"
        ],
        [
          "advance",
          "advance"
        ],
        [
          "step",
          "step"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(transitive, idiomatic) To increase, augment, or advance, especially by one or more steps."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic",
        "transitive"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "code": "ca",
          "lang": "Catalan",
          "sense": "to increase speed or rate",
          "word": "apressar"
        },
        {
          "code": "nl",
          "lang": "Dutch",
          "sense": "to increase speed or rate",
          "word": "versnellen"
        },
        {
          "code": "nl",
          "lang": "Dutch",
          "sense": "to increase speed or rate",
          "word": "verhogen"
        },
        {
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "to increase speed or rate",
          "word": "nopeuttaa"
        },
        {
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "to increase speed or rate",
          "word": "kiihdyttää"
        },
        {
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "to increase speed or rate",
          "word": "accroître"
        },
        {
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "to increase speed or rate",
          "word": "augmenter"
        },
        {
          "code": "el",
          "lang": "Greek",
          "roman": "enteíno",
          "sense": "to increase speed or rate",
          "word": "εντείνω"
        },
        {
          "code": "io",
          "lang": "Ido",
          "sense": "to increase speed or rate",
          "word": "acelerar"
        },
        {
          "code": "pl",
          "lang": "Polish",
          "sense": "to increase speed or rate",
          "word": "wzmagać"
        },
        {
          "code": "pl",
          "lang": "Polish",
          "sense": "to increase speed or rate",
          "word": "przyspieszyć"
        },
        {
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "roman": "narastitʹ",
          "sense": "to increase speed or rate",
          "tags": [
            "figuratively",
            "perfective"
          ],
          "word": "нарастить"
        },
        {
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "roman": "podnažatʹ",
          "sense": "to increase speed or rate",
          "tags": [
            "informal",
            "perfective"
          ],
          "word": "поднажать"
        },
        {
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "sense": "to increase speed or rate",
          "word": "aumentar"
        },
        {
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "sense": "to increase speed or rate",
          "word": "redoblar"
        },
        {
          "code": "sv",
          "lang": "Swedish",
          "sense": "to increase speed or rate",
          "word": "steppa upp"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "En-au-step up.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/7/7a/En-au-step_up.ogg/En-au-step_up.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7a/En-au-step_up.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (AU)"
    }
  ],
  "word": "step up"
}

{
  "etymology_number": 2,
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "step up to the plate",
        "3": "",
        "4": "take one's turn at bat, take responsibility"
      },
      "expansion": "Ellipsis of step up to the plate (“take one's turn at bat, take responsibility”)",
      "name": "ellipsis"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Ellipsis of step up to the plate (“take one's turn at bat, take responsibility”).",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "steps up",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "stepping up",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "stepped up",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "stepped up",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "*"
      },
      "expansion": "step up (third-person singular simple present steps up, present participle stepping up, simple past and past participle stepped up)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "antonyms": [
        {
          "word": "step aside#Verb"
        },
        {
          "word": "step down#Verb"
        }
      ],
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "44 56",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "31 69",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English phrasal verbs with particle (up)",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "Won't anyone step up to the challenge?",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2011 January 8, Chris Bevan, “Arsenal 1 - 1 Leeds”, in BBC",
          "text": "The Gunners continued to press after the break but it was Leeds who broke the deadlock in the 54th minute. There was no doubt about the penalty either, with Denilson clumsily fouling Gradel and Snodgrass stepping up to find the bottom corner of the net.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To assume or take responsibility."
      ],
      "id": "en-step_up-en-verb-VcbKIz45",
      "links": [
        [
          "take responsibility",
          "take responsibility"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(intransitive, idiomatic) To assume or take responsibility."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "volunteer"
        },
        {
          "word": "offer"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic",
        "intransitive"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "to assume responsibility",
          "word": "ottaa vastuulleen"
        },
        {
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "to assume responsibility",
          "word": "ottaa tehtäväkseen"
        },
        {
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "to assume responsibility",
          "word": "ottaa haaste vastaan"
        },
        {
          "code": "fi",
          "english": "to step up to the challenge",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "to assume responsibility",
          "word": "tarttua haasteeseen"
        },
        {
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "roman": "vyzvatʹsja",
          "sense": "to assume responsibility",
          "tags": [
            "perfective"
          ],
          "word": "вызваться"
        },
        {
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "roman": "vzjatʹsja",
          "sense": "to assume responsibility",
          "tags": [
            "perfective"
          ],
          "word": "взяться"
        },
        {
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "sense": "to assume responsibility",
          "word": "dar un paso adelante"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "En-au-step up.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/7/7a/En-au-step_up.ogg/En-au-step_up.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7a/En-au-step_up.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (AU)"
    }
  ],
  "word": "step up"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "English ellipses",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English phrasal verbs",
    "English phrasal verbs with particle (up)",
    "English terms with audio links",
    "English verbs"
  ],
  "descendants": [
    {
      "depth": 1,
      "templates": [
        {
          "args": {
            "1": "sv",
            "2": "steppa upp",
            "bor": "1"
          },
          "expansion": "→ Swedish: steppa upp",
          "name": "desc"
        }
      ],
      "text": "→ Swedish: steppa upp"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_number": 1,
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "steps up",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "stepping up",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "stepped up",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "stepped up",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "*"
      },
      "expansion": "step up (third-person singular simple present steps up, present participle stepping up, simple past and past participle stepped up)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English idioms",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English terms with usage examples",
        "English transitive verbs"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "Near-synonym: level up"
        },
        {
          "text": "They will need to step up production if they are going to compete.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "text": "Step up your shower game!",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2012 May 13, Alistair Magowan, “Sunderland 0-1 Man Utd”, in BBC Sport",
          "text": "United were made to pay for letting an eight-point lead as little as five weeks ago slip and, despite their final-day efforts, they will look back on a season where, when they needed to step up, they fell flat.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To increase, augment, or advance, especially by one or more steps."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "increase",
          "increase"
        ],
        [
          "augment",
          "augment"
        ],
        [
          "advance",
          "advance"
        ],
        [
          "step",
          "step"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(transitive, idiomatic) To increase, augment, or advance, especially by one or more steps."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic",
        "transitive"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "En-au-step up.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/7/7a/En-au-step_up.ogg/En-au-step_up.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7a/En-au-step_up.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (AU)"
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "ca",
      "lang": "Catalan",
      "sense": "to increase speed or rate",
      "word": "apressar"
    },
    {
      "code": "nl",
      "lang": "Dutch",
      "sense": "to increase speed or rate",
      "word": "versnellen"
    },
    {
      "code": "nl",
      "lang": "Dutch",
      "sense": "to increase speed or rate",
      "word": "verhogen"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "to increase speed or rate",
      "word": "nopeuttaa"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "to increase speed or rate",
      "word": "kiihdyttää"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "to increase speed or rate",
      "word": "accroître"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "to increase speed or rate",
      "word": "augmenter"
    },
    {
      "code": "el",
      "lang": "Greek",
      "roman": "enteíno",
      "sense": "to increase speed or rate",
      "word": "εντείνω"
    },
    {
      "code": "io",
      "lang": "Ido",
      "sense": "to increase speed or rate",
      "word": "acelerar"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "sense": "to increase speed or rate",
      "word": "wzmagać"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "sense": "to increase speed or rate",
      "word": "przyspieszyć"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "roman": "narastitʹ",
      "sense": "to increase speed or rate",
      "tags": [
        "figuratively",
        "perfective"
      ],
      "word": "нарастить"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "roman": "podnažatʹ",
      "sense": "to increase speed or rate",
      "tags": [
        "informal",
        "perfective"
      ],
      "word": "поднажать"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "sense": "to increase speed or rate",
      "word": "aumentar"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "sense": "to increase speed or rate",
      "word": "redoblar"
    },
    {
      "code": "sv",
      "lang": "Swedish",
      "sense": "to increase speed or rate",
      "word": "steppa upp"
    }
  ],
  "word": "step up"
}

{
  "categories": [
    "English ellipses",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English phrasal verbs",
    "English phrasal verbs with particle (up)",
    "English terms with audio links",
    "English verbs"
  ],
  "etymology_number": 2,
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "step up to the plate",
        "3": "",
        "4": "take one's turn at bat, take responsibility"
      },
      "expansion": "Ellipsis of step up to the plate (“take one's turn at bat, take responsibility”)",
      "name": "ellipsis"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Ellipsis of step up to the plate (“take one's turn at bat, take responsibility”).",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "steps up",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "stepping up",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "stepped up",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "stepped up",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "*"
      },
      "expansion": "step up (third-person singular simple present steps up, present participle stepping up, simple past and past participle stepped up)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "antonyms": [
        {
          "word": "step aside#Verb"
        },
        {
          "word": "step down#Verb"
        }
      ],
      "categories": [
        "English idioms",
        "English intransitive verbs",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English terms with usage examples"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "Won't anyone step up to the challenge?",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2011 January 8, Chris Bevan, “Arsenal 1 - 1 Leeds”, in BBC",
          "text": "The Gunners continued to press after the break but it was Leeds who broke the deadlock in the 54th minute. There was no doubt about the penalty either, with Denilson clumsily fouling Gradel and Snodgrass stepping up to find the bottom corner of the net.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To assume or take responsibility."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "take responsibility",
          "take responsibility"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(intransitive, idiomatic) To assume or take responsibility."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "volunteer"
        },
        {
          "word": "offer"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic",
        "intransitive"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "En-au-step up.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/7/7a/En-au-step_up.ogg/En-au-step_up.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7a/En-au-step_up.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (AU)"
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "to assume responsibility",
      "word": "ottaa vastuulleen"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "to assume responsibility",
      "word": "ottaa tehtäväkseen"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "to assume responsibility",
      "word": "ottaa haaste vastaan"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "english": "to step up to the challenge",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "to assume responsibility",
      "word": "tarttua haasteeseen"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "roman": "vyzvatʹsja",
      "sense": "to assume responsibility",
      "tags": [
        "perfective"
      ],
      "word": "вызваться"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "roman": "vzjatʹsja",
      "sense": "to assume responsibility",
      "tags": [
        "perfective"
      ],
      "word": "взяться"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "sense": "to assume responsibility",
      "word": "dar un paso adelante"
    }
  ],
  "word": "step up"
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-05-03 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-05-02 using wiktextract (f4fd8c9 and c9440ce). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.