ramp up
/ˌɹæmp ˈʌp/
ramp up verb: to increase rapidly to a new value.
Verb
ramp up (third-person singular simple present ramps up, present participle ramping up, simple past and past participle ramped up)
- To increase rapidly to a new value.
- Near-synonym: build up
- Headcount ramped up over three months.
- Synonyms:
- build up
- To increase (something) rapidly to a new value; to cause (something) to ramp up.
- Near-synonym: build up
- The manager ramped up headcount.
- Synonyms:
- build up
- To start up; to be in an initial phase of rapid increase.
- Near-synonyms: fire up, spin up
- The 5G development project will ramp up in the first quarter.
- To start (something) up; to cause (something) to ramp up.
- Near-synonyms: fire up, spin up
- He wants to be first to ramp up his project.
Synonyms of ramp up
Forms of ramp up
| third-person singular present | ramps up |
|---|---|
| present participle | ramping up |
| past participle | ramped up |
| past | ramped up |
Words formed from ramp up
Questions about ramp up
- What does ramp up mean?
- Ramp up means to increase rapidly to a new value.
- What part of speech is ramp up?
- Ramp up is a verb.
- How do you pronounce ramp up?
- Ramp up is pronounced /ˌɹæmp ˈʌp/ (US).
- What is the past tense of ramp up?
- The past tense of ramp up is ramped up.
Words near ramp up in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: ramp up (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Aadenboy-ramp up.wav.
Cite this entry: “ramp up.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/ramp_up. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.