let up

British  

verb

1. to diminish, slacken, or stop

2. informal (foll by on) to be less harsh (towards someone)

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noun

1. informal a lessening or abatement

let up Idioms  

1. See let down , def. 2.

2. Cease, stop entirely, as in The rain has let up so we can go out . [Late 1700s]

3. let up on . Be or become more lenient with, take the pressure off, as in Why don't you let up on the child? [Late 1800s]

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Example Sentences

After declining in 2024 and 2023, investment began to surge at the start of 2024 — and it hasn’t let up.

From MarketWatch • Apr. 7, 2026

It hopes to preserve its most capable defensive weapons in the face of daily Iranian barrages that haven’t let up through four weeks of war.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 30, 2026

Previous rounds of talks since Moscow invaded -- in Turkey multiple times, Saudi Arabia, Switzerland and Belarus -- have seen no let up in the killing or Russian bombardments.

From Barron's • Jan. 27, 2026

This hostile mode of “Spooning” has worked well enough that it won’t let up anytime soon; in just the past couple months, the private firm also brought AOL and Eventbrite into its portfolio.

From Slate • Jan. 23, 2026

But he was also canny enough to know when to let up on the crew, when to flatter them, when to implore them, when to joke around with them.

From "The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics" by Daniel James Brown