to warm up
21
2.5
- phrasal verb
- /wɔrm ʌp/
:
abrirse
- This is our second night together and he's warming up to me finally.
Oh, it's OK, they're just a little slow to warm up.
- Oh, it's OK, they're just a little slow to warm up.
- And then you get to the point that I am now at where I am very slow to warm up with new people.
- There's a great video of this kid who's feeling depression and eventually he warms up and starts to get along with Ruthless the monster.
- And Buzzy was really smart because Buzzy said unless you get and warm up to DL, understand your business, you will never be trusted.
- First one, maybe I have an alcohol problem because the stewardess came to me and she said another one and I said, oh, baby, we're warming up.
Examples
-
Then the voice on the other end warmed up a little and began to talk more openly.
Fiction book (2000) -
You can try again, he'll warm up to you eventually.
-
He'll warm up to you.
-
You know, it takes Julie a while to warm up to people, but once she does, she can be very sweet.
-
Clemente, for his part, rarely warmed up to reporters.
Academic text (1994) -
With time, I have warmed up considerably toward the prequels, even if I was never a hater.
Blog text (22) -
Politically, the new Bush administration has been gradually warming up to Taiwan by establishing better political communication and contact with the government in Taipei.
Academic text (2002) -
At first, Jack seemed reserved, but after a few minutes, he really started to warm up and share his ideas.
-
It usually takes a while for Sarah to warm up to strangers, but by the end of the evening, she was laughing and chatting with everyone.
-
After playing together for a bit, the children began to warm up to the new teacher and enjoyed her lessons.
Synonyms
31
3.4
To relax and become less nervous or tense
8
4.9
Start to like someone or something more over time
1
7.7
To make friends with someone by talking and being kind
Antonyms
How Friendly
- Informal
3
4.1
- Informal
149
2.9
21
2.5
34
4.6
108
4.2
Surface Forms
Morphology
The friendship sense is a metaphorical extension of the literal meanings 'warm' (to become warmer) and 'up' (increase): emotional 'warmth' maps to friendliness and 'warm up' therefore means 'become more friendly'. Because this requires recognizing a metaphorical shift (and phrasal-verb variability across contexts), a B1 learner who only knows the literal senses may not reliably infer the social meaning without prior exposure.
Etymology
Warm up — The phrase warm up comes from the picture of a cold or shy person becoming more open: little smiles and chats make them feel warm inside. That's why it means 'to become more friendly or willing to talk'.