Home UK English up the ante

Meaning of up the ante in English:

up the ante

phrase

(also raise the ante)

  • Increase what is at stake or under discussion, especially in a conflict or dispute.

    ‘he decided to up the ante in the trade war’
    • ‘And, whenever new and useful information came in, she would up the ante by increasing the reward money.’
    • ‘With bottled water now boasting a retail value of 900m, Highland Spring is prepared to up the ante in an increasingly competitive market.’
    • ‘The film successfully ups the ante with this brisk and charming story of a young girl from a righteous Sikh family who doesn't want to conform to the narrow community ways her mum so desperately maintains.’
    • ‘It ups the ante on what popular history can, and should, do.’
    • ‘At least this kind of talk ups the ante after the anodyne stuff we've endured at the majority of press conferences.’
    • ‘With this novel she ups the ante, breaking new ground with a superbly plotted and gripping historical novel.’
    • ‘He said: ‘We are upping the ante and we are expecting it to be a relatively intense period of operations.’’
    • ‘Ghostly goings-on are almost commonplace in many York pubs, but the Red Lion is upping the ante with multiple gory tales - and a picture which staff claim shows a mysterious apparition.’
    • ‘Then last week the ante was upped considerably more with another seizure this time of the dreaded weed with a street value of €200,000.’