skyrocket
Americannoun
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skyrockets
plural
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a rocket firework that ascends into the air and explodes at a height, usually in a brilliant array of sparks of one or more colors.
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Also called scarlet gilia. a plant, Ipomopsis aggregata, of the phlox family, native to western North America, having finely divided leaves and clusters of red, trumpet-shaped flowers.
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an organized group cheer, usually led by a cheerleader, as at a football or basketball game, which begins with a hissing or whistling and ends with a shout.
verb (used without object)
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skyrockets,
present (3rd person singular)
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skyrocketed,
past participle, past
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skyrocketing
present participle
verb (used with object)
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skyrockets,
present (3rd person singular)
-
skyrocketed,
past participle, past
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skyrocketing
present participle
-
to cause to rise or increase rapidly and usually suddenly.
Economic changes have skyrocketed prices.
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to thrust with sudden dramatic advancement; catapult.
Talent has skyrocketed him to fame.
noun
verb
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
skyrocketsimple
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skyrocketssimple
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have skyrocketedperfect
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has skyrocketedperfect
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am skyrocketingprogressive
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are skyrocketingprogressive
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is skyrocketingprogressive
-
have been skyrocketingperfect progressive
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has been skyrocketingperfect progressive
Past
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skyrocketedsimple
-
had skyrocketedperfect
-
was skyrocketingprogressive
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were skyrocketingprogressive
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had been skyrocketingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of skyrocket
Explanation
When something skyrockets, it shoots up. Immediately after the Winter Olympics, interest in ice skating, bobsledding, and curling tends to skyrocket, or increase suddenly and dramatically. The verb skyrocket is good to use when something grows or shoots up as abruptly as a firework. Gas prices, food prices, debt, and winter cases of the flu are all said, from time to time, to skyrocket. A more literal meaning of skyrocket is the actual rocket that's designed to send a flare or firework high into the sky. A bottle rocket — a firework that is placed in an empty bottle before being lit and shooting into the air — is one example of a small skyrocket.
Vocabulary lists containing skyrocket
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
As avian flu spread like wildfire through the industry, poultry farmers were forced to cull 26 million birds, leading prices to skyrocket.
From Barron's ● Aug. 5, 2026
"The way rugby's going and what Pollock is doing, his value over the next couple of years will skyrocket, and I think the value of rugby will."
From BBC ● Aug. 3, 2026
Premiums skyrocket when enrollment is delayed until later years, because insurers must account for the higher probability of the insured person making immediate claims, giving less time for the insurer to collect and invest premiums.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 29, 2026
To my surprise not one skyrocket, bottle rocket or firecracker was missing.
From Salon ● Jul. 3, 2026
On the top step he let out a shriek that one witness likened to the scream of a skyrocket.
From "The Devil in the White City" by Erik Larson
Samsung, which makes memory chips essential for AI data centres, has also seen its value and profits soar as global demand skyrockets.
From Barron's ● Jun. 2, 2026
Swinney accused UK ministers of "twiddling their thumbs" while the cost of living for rural households skyrockets.
From BBC ● Mar. 15, 2026
In other words, homeowners are incentivized to not sell their home and give up their tax rate, which remains low even as their home value skyrockets.
From MarketWatch ● Jan. 7, 2026
As the price of rights to coveted sporting events skyrockets, the broadcasters have America’s most-loved tournament locked up for seven more years in exchange for relatively fixed annual payments.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 14, 2025
The same is true of Fourth of July equipment, flags and bunting and skyrockets.
From "Cannery Row" by John Steinbeck
SpaceX has delivered its first-ever quarterly business report, which showed revenue nearly doubled but its spending skyrocketed.
From BBC ● Aug. 4, 2026
As recently as 2019, only 199 pitchers recorded a save—and the number has skyrocketed ever since, with 2026 set to surpass the record of 223 from 2024.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 28, 2026
Microsoft and its rivals have been scrambling to buy up artificial-intelligence hardware at a time when prices for key memory components have skyrocketed, raising questions about profits.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 28, 2026
AI-related shares have skyrocketed recently, with SK hynix gaining more than 500 percent over the past 12 months, for example.
From Barron's ● Jul. 28, 2026
He compares his newfound sense of color to tulip mania, when the Dutch were so obsessed with tulips that everyone wanted them and the price of bulbs skyrocketed.
From "Vincent and Theo: The Van Gogh Brothers" by Deborah Heiligman
Those renters have faced skyrocketing rents that are only set to rise faster as Silicon Valley floods with wealth from the AI boom.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 3, 2026
Both those companies posted eye-watering profit jumps this week, while their share prices have gone haywire, with SK hynix skyrocketing 30 percent on Friday.
From Barron's ● Jul. 31, 2026
Now, millions of Californians are losing their health coverage, and millions more are being forced to pay skyrocketing costs,” SEIU-UHW Press Secretary Renee Saldana wrote in a statement to The Times.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 30, 2026
Vozinha's heroics sparked a global following, with his Instagram audience skyrocketing from about 50,000 before the tournament to more than 29 million.
From BBC ● Jul. 20, 2026
An effective test-prep class—one that drills students repeatedly on the kinds of questions they will encounter on a specific test—can, in a given year, send test scores skyrocketing.
From "Drama High" by Michael Sokolove
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.
