How to Use up the ante in a Sentence

up the ante

idiom
  • But the home crowd at Hamilton should up the ante here.
    The Arizona Republic, 24 Feb. 2023
  • Each year high school students up the ante more and more for prom.
    Ahjané Forbes, USA TODAY, 3 June 2024
  • Woodland had to up the ante when Head came back to the rec center to work out.
    Sam Cohn, Baltimore Sun, 20 July 2023
  • Plus, the All-Clad can up the ante even more with a high-speed Turbo button,.
    Megan Wahn, Bon Appétit, 9 Feb. 2024
  • Bonus burn: To up the ante, hold light dumbbells in each hand to get your upper body fired up, too.
    Andi Breitowich, Women's Health, 27 June 2023
  • Prince’s lead guitar and Eric Leeds’ so-ahead-of-its-time flute solo up the ante.
    Chris Willman, Variety, 24 Nov. 2023
  • The race to up the ante and win over guests is never ending and the results can be spectacular.
    Katie Lockhart, Robb Report, 24 Apr. 2023
  • Slow Horses seems determined to up the ante a bit for its third outing.
    J. Oliver Conroy, Washington Examiner, 12 Jan. 2024
  • Trainers have long been worn with suits and dresses but, to up the ante chunky sneakers add edginess to your looks.
    Kerane Marcellus, Essence, 24 May 2024
  • What seems to be clear is that Loki 2 will further up the ante compared to what happened in the first season.
    Chris Smith, BGR, 9 Dec. 2022
  • She is poised to up the ante this year, with six nominations overall.
    Jessica Nicholson, Billboard, 9 May 2023
  • But to the designer’s surprise, the homeowner proceeded to up the ante.
    Robert Rufino, ELLE Decor, 17 Aug. 2023
  • This year, up the ante with this luxe hot sauce gift set from Truff, which features four miniature hot sauce bottles in a variety of flavors.
    Jessie Quinn, Peoplemag, 1 Dec. 2023
  • Restraint might encourage Israel to up the ante, forcing Iran’s hand at a later date.
    Afshon Ostovar, Foreign Affairs, 19 Apr. 2024
  • Why not up the ante and make the tights both pants and shoes, the skip the top altogether in favor of a wildly weather inappropriate fur coat?
    Kathleen Walsh, Glamour, 26 June 2024
  • For fans who aren't in the market for new wallpaper, the collection also includes a trio of wall decal options that are sure to up the ante on any wall.
    Kelly Corbett, House Beautiful, 17 Feb. 2021
  • To up the ante: Scorsese and Spielberg are tied for the second-most nominations for best director with nine, behind William Wyler’s 12.
    Clayton Davis, Variety, 12 Oct. 2023
  • Players can also up the ante with inventions like the Fire Pipe, a flamethrower-like piece of ancient technology.
    Katcy Stephan, Variety, 31 Jan. 2024
  • The inciting incident sends Marlowe on a familiar trail of clues and characters that should up the ante on suspense.
    Ann Hornaday, Washington Post, 15 Feb. 2023
  • An alumni letter published Monday demanded that Shafik up the ante.
    Zachary Schermele, USA TODAY, 2 May 2024
  • Our testers confirmed these have an extremely comfortable fit, sitting just below the natural waist and featuring a little bit of stretch to up the ante.
    Olivia Muenter, Peoplemag, 3 Apr. 2024
  • But leaders who want millennial managers to play ball with return-to-office mandates will need to seriously up the ante.
    Orianna Rosa Royle, Fortune, 9 Jan. 2024
  • But after protesting at Real Food Daily’s locations for a while, Gallegos decided to up the ante.
    Noah Goldberg, Los Angeles Times, 6 Mar. 2024
  • The movie star continued to up the ante with her sparkling accessories, opting to style the gown with Jessica McCormack diamond drop earrings.
    Chelsey Sanchez, Harper's BAZAAR, 27 Apr. 2023
  • If your company relies on stock compensation, reconsider the equation and up the ante on the cash portion of the compensation.
    Manish Garg, Forbes, 3 Jan. 2023
  • But Family Circle decided to up the ante by publishing cookie recipes from the wives of each candidate and asking readers to try baking both and then vote on their favorite.
    Maggie Burch, Southern Living, 5 Nov. 2023
  • The new legislation authorizing arrests promises to up the ante even further.
    J. David Goodman, New York Times, 26 Oct. 2023
  • To up the ante, Waters’ renegade film called for three 8mm projectors running simultaneously, the images stacked one on top of another.
    Peter Debruge, Variety, 8 Apr. 2024
  • All climbed with partners, and only one, Ang Rita Sherpa, in 1987, climbed without supplemental oxygen. Kobusch, with his penchant for long, lonely, daring climbs, is trying to up the ante even further.
    New York Times, 1 Feb. 2022
  • And that pushes up the ante in terms of quality, transparency, and scientific efficiency.
    Phil Wahba, Fortune, 20 Oct. 2023

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'up the ante.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Last Updated: