as in enhances
to make markedly greater in measure or degree
candidates stepping up their campaigns as election day draws near stepped up the pace to catch up with the others
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Recent Examples of steps up
The question is, which Democrat steps up next?
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Howie Carr, Boston Herald, 14 Jan. 2026
Sometimes the surprise player steps up.
—Allen Buchanan, Oc Register, 8 Nov. 2025
As sparks fly between Zoe and Jace, a last-minute cancellation threatens the fun, but Agnes steps up.
—Emlyn Travis, Entertainment Weekly, 24 Oct. 2025
His right-hand man Erik Mortensen steps up to finish the fall 1982 collection and lead the couture house.
—Lily Templeton, Footwear News, 19 Sep. 2025
Daniels steps up, but Wyatt is right there and forces Daniels to cut back right into Sorrell and Brooks, who split the sack for a loss of 2 yards.
—Matt Schneidman, New York Times, 13 Sep. 2025
Who steps up in ensuing summers residents may be itching to know.
—Charles Selle, Chicago Tribune, 25 Aug. 2025
Tensions have risen sharply in recent years as China flies near-daily military sorties across the median line of the Taiwan Strait and steps up major military drills to punish Taiwan's ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).
—Micah McCartney, MSNBC Newsweek, 20 Aug. 2025
Vingroup—the flagship company of billionaire Pham Nhat Vuong, Vietnam’s richest person—plans to invest around 374 trillion dong ($14 billion) to develop a port and logistics hub outside of Hanoi as the nation’s largest conglomerate steps up expansion plans.
—Yessar Rosendar, Forbes.com, 4 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for steps up
Verb
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Her go-to is the Madison Reed Radiant Hair Color Kit, a $35 at-home hair color box that conceals 100 percent of stubborn grays and enhances shine.—
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The denim industry has found an appreciation for linen and how the fiber enhances and refines what is traditionally considered to be a tough and rugged fabric.—
Verb
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Mangold has a showy falsetto that heightens Noah’s vulnerable longing, but the duets with Cheers’ Allie aren’t lyrically sophisticated enough to provide the relationship with much depth.—
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Companies have been bolstering identity security defenses as AI heightens the sophistication of cyberattacks.—
Verb
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The Arctic competition intensifies as Russia boosts military presence and China declares itself a ‘near-Arctic state,’ making Greenland crucial for North American defense.—
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Two days later, Mars conjunct Pluto in your fourth house intensifies emotional undercurrents tied to family, home, or old survival patterns.—
Verb
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The other shoe drops that deepens the love, but that also tests some of their personal limits.—
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The bombardment killed at least four people, left hundreds of thousands without power, and widened the humanitarian crisis as winter deepens.—
Verb
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Buonanotte now strengthens United’s options in the final third and allows Farke to pivot from his five-man defence where necessary.—
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Published on Wednesday in Nature and derived from deeper, more time-consuming JWST observations of a dozen LRDs that split their light into its constituent colors, or spectra, a new study strengthens the case that these objects are, in fact, gigantic, growing black holes.—
Cite this Entry
“Steps up.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/steps%20up. Accessed 20 Jan. 2026.
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