Word.ws English Dictionary

stepping up

stepping up is the present participle and gerund of step up.

Meaning of step up

Verb (1)

step up (third-person singular simple present steps up, present participle stepping up, simple past and past participle stepped up)

  1. (idiomatic, transitive) To increase, augment, or advance, especially by one or more steps.
    • Near-synonym: level up
    Synonyms:
    level up

Verb (2)

step up (third-person singular simple present steps up, present participle stepping up, simple past and past participle stepped up)

  1. (idiomatic, intransitive) To assume or take responsibility.
    • Won't anyone step up to the challenge?
    Synonyms:
    volunteer, offer

Questions about stepping up

What is stepping up the present participle and gerund of?
Stepping up is the present participle and gerund of step up.

Words near stepping up in the dictionary

  1. stepping stone
  2. stepping stones
  3. stepping switch
  4. stepping switches
  5. stepping to
  6. stepping up
  7. stepping up one's game
  8. stepping up to the plate
  9. stepping-stone
  10. stepping-stones
  11. Steppingley

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: stepping up (page history and authors); step 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: “stepping up.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/stepping_up. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.