From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishfollow something ↔ up phrasal verb1 DOto find out more information about something and take action if necessary The police take people’s statements and then follow them up.2 ADDto do something in addition to what you have already done in order to make it more likely to succeed → follow-up with If there is no response to your press release, follow it up with a phone call. This experiment was quickly followed up by others using different forms of the drug. → follow-up2 → follow→ See Verb table
Examples from the Corpus
follow up• The victory at Sluys enhanced Edward's military prestige, but he was unable to follow it up.• You can then follow that up by submitting completed Scorecard information to be independently benchmarked.• You said you followed Katie up here.• The crew helped the passengers disembark, then followed them up the gangway.• Meekly he followed Drumhead up the sandy embankment toward the willow grove.• I said, and followed her up the stairs.• Stumbling a little, she followed him up the steps and across the moonlit terrace into the palazzo.• And I'd thought to follow it up with a gourmet meal somewhere.follow with• I followed this up with a fax to the national coach.• And I'd thought to follow it up with a gourmet meal somewhere.• They mentioned that you and Anna walked a hundred miles and that you were following it up with a heavy date.• It followed the attack up with a vicious peck just above the other bird's beak.• Labour is calling on John Major to follow it up with cuts of his own.• I shall certainly be following this matter up with the council when I meet it shortly.• Two days later they followed this up with the first woman in space.follow-upˈfollow-up1 ●○○ noun 1 [countable, uncountable]DO something that is done to make sure that earlier actions have been successful or effective → follow up preventative treatment and follow-up several weeks later2 [countable]TCNAFTER a book, film, article etc that comes after another one that has the same subject or characters Spielberg says he’s planning to do a follow-up next year.follow-up to a follow-up to their hit albumExamples from the Corpus
follow-up• We're fairly sure the data is accurate, but we will be doing a follow-up.• Self-reports were not verified and the lengths of follow-up were somewhat variable.• Leeds then had more chances, Macca had one touched on to the post, with Wallace's follow-up going just wide.follow-upfollow-up2 adjective [only before noun] AFTERdone in order to find out more or do more about something → follow up a follow-up study on children and povertyExamples from the Corpus
follow-up• The way these things work, there are two agents on each running board of the follow-up car.• The United States also agreed to drop its opposition to a follow-up conference in 2006.• After each training programme everyone has a follow-up interview with their manager.• Satisfying himself after a while, he commenced to write a follow-up letter, composed by George and dated 31 August.• Improvement was maintained over a follow-up period of six months.• There are no follow-up ques-tions.• Those patients who have the procedure are monitored closely in follow-up research.• Weiss is doing a follow-up study to his research on children raised in single-parent families.• All analyses included follow-up time after any discontinuation of study drug.• It is only by means of regression that the root of such cases can be discovered and the foundation laid for the follow-up treatment.• Once you have installed solar heating you will receive regular follow-up visits from our experts.From Longman Business Dictionaryfollow something → up phrasal verb [transitive] to do something as a result of something someone has suggested or something you have found outMany of the report’s recommendations are worth following up. → follow→ See Verb tablefollow-upˈfollow-up1 adjective [only before a noun]MARKETING a follow-up letter, visit etc is done to make sure that earlier actions have been effective or successful, or to continue a plan of action that was started earlierBy lunchtime, I usually know how many follow-up letters, informational packets, and other documents that I need to send out to clients.Follow-up interviews have indicated that the advertising campaign was widely misunderstood.follow-upˈfollow-up2 noun [countable, uncountable]MARKETING something that is done to make sure that earlier actions have been effective or successful, or to continue a plan of action that was started earlierAsk one of the sales reps if we have sent a follow-up yet.I know that the email was flagged for follow-up. 