step-up
adjective · noun
Simple meaning
That increases a voltage.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
stehpuhpSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈstɛpəp
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
adjective
of a transformer etc
That increases a voltage.
That increases in stages.
noun
An increase.
exercise
A workout movement wherein one leg stands on an elevated surface and lifts in the concentric part the rest of the body up onto it to target – depending on angle and starting distance of the other leg and weights applied by the arms – the femoral and gluteal muscles variously.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C2 · Proficient (estimated)
- Typical Use
- Rare
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: (of a transformer etc) That increases a voltage.
Used this way, step-up is a specialist word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. This is an engineering use: it is a working term used for accuracy on the job.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Specialist/technical
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Specialized
- Connotation
- Clinical and technical
- Usage feel
- Technical and specialized
Where it naturally appears
- Technical/specialist writing
- Science
Usage note
In general conversation this sense usually needs explaining — outside its field, people reach for a plainer word.
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.