dialed up
Made more extreme
Dialed up means increased or intensified, from the image of turning a dial to raise a setting: The director really dialed up the tension in the final act.
It suggests deliberate adjustment rather than natural escalation.
Something can be dialed up or dialed down depending on whether you want more or less of it.
The past tense also appears as dialled up in British English.
- crankedTurned by handle
- amplifiedIncreased in strength
- intensifiedMade more extreme
- turned upArrived or was found
- boostedRaised or amplified
ramped up · rotary · rotary phone · telephone · phone call · call · receiver · connection · long distance · party line · heightened · escalated · volume · knob · tuned · frequency · signal · ramped
dialed updialed down
Lessened in degree
toned down · turned down · dialed back · scaled back · tamped down
dialed upswitched off
Made inactive by toggle
powered down · shut down · disengaged · deactivated · tuned out