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Glite Dictionary
💪 To get fitter 🧴 To improve skin
to tone up

to tone up

1 3.8
To make muscles firmer and stronger by exercise
  • phrasal verb
  • /toʊn ʌp/
translation icon : tonificar
  • After a few weeks of exercise, he noticed that he was beginning to tone up and feel more energetic.
  • tone up muscles
  • get toned up

Examples

  • She started a new workout program to tone up her muscles and improve her overall health.

  • The squeeze-rod is your answer if you want to tone up your arm muscles...

    Mutant Aliens (2002)

  • But first, I got to say the free time has really, really helped me tone up, if you know what I mean.

  • I would definitely like to tone up my arms as well as the rest of my body.

    Blog text (20)

  • At your size, you could do any exercise and tone up.

    Blog text (20)

  • I needed to tone up so, but I didn't.

  • I do a lot of walking as well as Zumba occasionally, but I really do need to tone up and get my body back.

    Blog text (20)

  • I know what to eat to lose weight, but my goal here is really to tone up and have abs that I don't hate.

    Blog text (22)

  • I'm naturally little, but I recently had a baby and want to tone up a lot, especially my booty. However, I do not want or need to lose any weight. Is this a good workout video for me to do, or should I just stick with weights in the gym?

    Blog text (20)

  • Many people join gyms to tone up and get in better shape for the summer.

Synonyms

to train
vsto tone up
442 1.0

To exercise to get ready for a sport or event

focuses specifically on firming muscles and improving body health
to strengthen
vsto tone up
327 3.0

To make muscles, relationships, or groups stronger

is limited to improving body firmness and muscle health by exercise
to tone
vsto tone up
30 3.9

To make muscles firmer and more defined by exercise

is the everyday phrase used for that same fitness action
to shape up
vsto tone up
  • Informal
11 4.0

Start to behave and work better after a time of not trying

focuses specifically on firming muscles rather than behavior change
to tonify
vsto tone up
  • Specialized
8.3

To make the body or its parts stronger and firmer

is similar but focuses less on clinical wording and more on exercise
to bolster up
vsto tone up
4.2

To give help to someone or something to make them stronger

is narrower and targets bodily muscle firmness, not general support

Antonyms

to weaken
305 2.8

To make people and things less strong or effective

to tone down
44 3.7

To make something less strong, for example a sound, color or feeling

How Toned

to tone up
1 3.8
to exercise
114 1.0

Surface Forms

tone up infinitive
toned up past
toned up past participle
toning up present participle
tones up third person singular

Morphology

tone + up

The sense 'to improve firmness or appearance' is directly derivable from combining 'tone' (to firm) with the particle 'up' (indicating increase/improvement), so a learner who knows both constituents can infer the cosmetic meaning. This is a productive verb+particle construction found in many languages and in English usage, making the expression predictable rather than idiomatic.

Etymology

Tone up comes from the idea that tone is how firm a muscle is and up means to increase it. Imagine a loose rope you pull tight— to tone up is to make muscles firmer and stronger, so it means 'to make the body or muscles firmer'.