Word.ws English Dictionary

stepped-up

stepped-up adjective: increased; heightened.

Adjective

stepped-up (comparative more stepped-up, superlative most stepped-up)

  1. Increased; heightened.
    • Austria is a prime destination for smuggled people heading for the heart of the EU via Hungary from the Balkans. For many migrants, the Hungarian route remains an option despite stepped-up border patrols and a steel fence built by Hungary after the EU’s 2015 migration crisis.2023 May 23, Lisa O'Carroll, “Austria tightens border controls as Hungary frees convicted people smugglers”, in The Guardian

Forms of stepped-up

comparativemore stepped-up
superlativemost stepped-up

Origin of stepped-up

From step up.

Words formed from stepped-up

  • stepped-up separation

Questions about stepped-up

What does stepped-up mean?
Stepped-up means increased; heightened.
What part of speech is stepped-up?
Stepped-up is an adjective.

Words near stepped-up in the dictionary

  1. stepped reckoners
  2. stepped to
  3. stepped up
  4. stepped up one's game
  5. stepped up to the plate
  6. stepped-up
  7. steppedst
  8. steppeland
  9. steppelands
  10. steppelike
  11. stepper

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: stepped-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.

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Cite this entry: “stepped-up.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/stepped-up. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.