turn up the heat
Escalate the situation
To turn up the heat is to intensify pressure on someone or something: Prosecutors turned up the heat on the witness.
The phrase draws on the discomfort of rising temperature—making conditions harder to bear until someone yields or breaks.
It can also mean simply to increase effort or aggression: The team turned up the heat in the second half.
intensify
Increase in severity
- amplifyIncrease in strength
- heightenIncrease in degree
- boostUpward push or increase
- pressureForce upon contact
ramp up · step up · accelerate · raise the stakes · apply pressure · squeeze · stress · coerce
escalate
Increase in severity
pressure · ramp up · step up · accelerate · raise the stakes · apply pressure · squeeze · stress · coerce · compel
thermostat
Automatic climate control device
- furnaceEnclosed heat-producing structure
- burnerHeat-producing device component
- ovenEnclosed cooking chamber
stove · radiator · warmth · boiler · fireplace · pilot light · gas · dial · crank up · adjust
- turn phrasesabout face
- food idiomspiece of cake, bread winner, low-hanging fruit, cool as a cucumber, bad egg
- pressureair pressure, blood pressure rise, blood pressure drop, barometric pressure, apply pressure
- innuendoinnuendo, sexual innuendo, double entendre, double meaning, implied meaning