ramp up

ramp up (third-person singular simple present ramps up, present participle ramping up, simple past and past participle ramped up)

1. (intransitive) To increase rapidly to a new value.

   Near-synonym: build up

   Headcount ramped up over three months.

2. (transitive) To increase (something) rapidly to a new value; to cause (something) to ramp up.

   Near-synonym: build up

   The manager ramped up headcount.

   • 2012 November 20, Nina Bernstein, “Storm Bared a Lack of Options for the Homeless in New York”, in The New York Times‎:

     Overnight, as the storm bore down on urban flood zones, city officials ramped up emergency spaces to shelter thousands more people, mostly in public schools and colleges.

   • 2020 September 23, Nigel Harris, “Comment: We MUST seize the moment”, in Rail, page 3:

     For entirely self-serving reasons, ministers and civil servants never dispelled the public belief that uncaring 'fat cat' privateers or foreign state railways were in control, ramping up fares and creaming off profits which either enriched shareholders or subsidised European rail fares. DfT left train operators to 'take the heat' - which they dutifully did, fearful of speaking up and 'biting the hand that feeds'.

   • 2021 June 22, Nicholas Fandos, “Republicans Block Voting Rights Bill, Dealing Blow to Biden and Democrats”, in The New York Times‎:

     Liberal activists promised a well-funded summertime blitz, replete with home-state rallies and million-dollar ad campaigns, to try to ramp up pressure on a handful of Senate Democrats opposed to changing the rules.

   • 2023 March 13, Eric Cheung, Nectar Gan, “Taiwan says soldier who went missing has been found in China”, in CNN‎, archived from the original on 13 March 2023‎:

     In recent years, Beijing has ramped up economic, diplomatic and military pressure on Taiwan – a self-ruling democracy the Chinese Communist Party claims as its own despite having never governed it.

3. (intransitive) 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.

   • 2004, Jana Murphy, The Secret Lives of Toddlers, Perigee, →ISBN, page 118:

     It's only fair to note that during the toddler years, the nightmare phase is just ramping up for many children.

   • 2007, John A. Cogliandro, Intelligent Innovation: Four Steps to Achieving a Competitive Edge, J. Ross Publishing, published 2007, →ISBN, page 71:

     For projects that are just ramping up, a reasonable estimate should be made for the foreseeable future.

4. (transitive, management) 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.

• ramp-up (noun)