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raise the ante
Idioms and Phrases
Increase the price or cost of something, as in We'd hoped to invest in some land, but they've raised the ante and now we can't afford it . This term alludes to the ante or stakes of gambling. [ Slang ; late 1800s]Example Sentences
The obvious next step is to invite other justices to testify, as well as Harlan Crow and Brian Duffy, and to raise the ante if they decline.
His recent actions all raise the ante.
Still, Swift’s new verses raise the ante, as well as the tension: “I’ve been played before if you hadn’t guessed.”
Some experts say that the North could dramatically raise the ante in weapons demonstrations after the end of February’s Winter Olympics in Beijing.
But it could dramatically raise the ante once the Beijing Games end.
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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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