heat it up

Meaning

This phrasal verb means to make food or drink hot, usually leftovers or something that has gone cold. It can be done using a microwave, stove, or oven. The tone is casual and very common in daily life.

Examples

• If the soup is cold, you can heat it up in the microwave.

  If the soup is cold, you can heat it up in the microwave.

• I have some leftover pasta, so I'll just heat it up for lunch.

  I have some leftover pasta, so I'll just heat it up for lunch.

• Don't boil the milk, just heat it up slightly.

  Don't boil the milk, just heat it up slightly.

• Could you heat it up for me? It's a bit lukewarm.

  Could you heat it up for me? It's a bit lukewarm.

• She forgot to heat it up, so we ate the pizza cold.

  She forgot to heat it up, so we ate the pizza cold.

Common Mistakes

• ✗ heat up it

  ✓ heat it up

  With pronoun objects (like 'it'), the pronoun must go between the verb 'heat' and the particle 'up'.

• ✗ hot it up

  ✓ heat it up

  'Hot' is an adjective, not a verb. The correct verb form is 'heat'.

Related Expressions

Practice

• The coffee has gone cold, let me ___ for you.

  💡 Make it hot again.

  Show answer

  heat it up

• You don't need to cook a new meal, just ___ in the microwave.

  💡 Warm up the existing food.

  Show answer

  heat it up