Definition of "stepped-up" [stepped-up]

• Increased in pace or intensity; heightened: a stepped-up political campaign. (adjective)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "The four-star general nominated to be the next Army chief told Congress Thursday that the U.S. should provide whatever defense assistance that Iraq believes it needs beyond 2011, particularly in light of what he called stepped-up Iranian efforts to pressure the U.S. to abandon Iraq."
• "Army general: US should aid Iraqi defense The four-star general nominated to be the next Army chief told Congress Thursday that the U.S. should provide whatever defense assistance that Iraq believes it needs beyond 2011, particularly in light of what he called stepped-up Iranian efforts to pressure the U.S. to abandon Iraq."
• "Federal safety regulators, finalizing stepped-up structural inspections of more than 1,300 jetliners, on Friday released safety mandates covering many older Boeing 757 and 737 models."