FOLLOW UP

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does follow up mean? 

• FOLLOW UP (verb)
  The verb FOLLOW UP has 2 senses:

1. pursue to a conclusion or bring to a successful issue

2. increase the effectiveness or success of by further action

  Familiarity information: FOLLOW UP used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• FOLLOW UP (verb)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Pursue to a conclusion or bring to a successful issue

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

carry out; follow out; follow through; follow up; go through with; implement; put through

Context example:

She followed up his recommendations with a written proposal

Hypernyms (to "follow up" is one way to...):

complete; finish (come or bring to a finish or an end)

Verb group:

accomplish; action; carry out; carry through; execute; fulfil; fulfill (put in effect)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "follow up"):

adhere (follow through or carry out a plan without deviation)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

follow-up (a subsequent examination of a patient for the purpose of monitoring earlier treatment)

follow-up (an activity that continues something that has already begun or that repeats something that has already been done)

follow-up (a piece of work that exploits or builds on earlier work)

followup (a subsequent examination of a patient for the purpose of monitoring earlier treatment)

followup (an activity that continues something that has already begun or that repeats something that has already been done)

followup (a piece of work that exploits or builds on earlier work)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Increase the effectiveness or success of by further action

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Context example:

The doctor followed up the surgery with radiation

Hypernyms (to "follow up" is one way to...):

enhance (make better or more attractive)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

follow-up (a subsequent examination of a patient for the purpose of monitoring earlier treatment)

follow-up (an activity that continues something that has already begun or that repeats something that has already been done)

follow-up (a piece of work that exploits or builds on earlier work)

followup (a subsequent examination of a patient for the purpose of monitoring earlier treatment)

followup (an activity that continues something that has already begun or that repeats something that has already been done)

followup (a piece of work that exploits or builds on earlier work)

 Context examples 

The patients didn’t experience graft-versus-host disease—in which donor cells attack the recipient—after a median follow up of 3.4 years.

(Stem cell transplant reverses sickle cell disease in adults, NIH)

You may follow up with genetic testing.

(Genetic Counseling, Genetics Home Reference)

It is important to follow up quickly.

(Newborn Screening, NIH: National Institute of Child Health and Human Development)

This was also the case when they looked at the participants who developed metabolic disorders during the 6.3 years of follow up.

(Study links irregular sleep patterns to metabolic disorders, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

To follow up on these clues, astronomers then turned to Chandra and the Large Binocular Telescope (LBT) in Arizona.

(Three Black Holes on Collision Course, NASA)

He might roll a dog off its feet, but the pack would be upon him before he could follow up and deliver the deadly throat-stroke.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow up this clue while it is still hot.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Of the 628 participants who completed the questionnaire, just under one in five (19%) experienced a cardiovascular disease event and a similar number (21%) died during follow up from causes including cancer and heart attack.

(Patients with an ‘empathic’ GP at reduced risk of early death, University of Cambridge)

As you enter November, follow up ongoing projects, but don’t try to launch new ones because glitches will crop up, and it will be hard to make progress on them.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

I improved, however, sensibly in this science, but not sufficiently to follow up any kind of conversation, although I applied my whole mind to the endeavour, for I easily perceived that, although I eagerly longed to discover myself to the cottagers, I ought not to make the attempt until I had first become master of their language, which knowledge might enable me to make them overlook the deformity of my figure, for with this also the contrast perpetually presented to my eyes had made me acquainted.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)