upend
Americanverb (used with object)
-
upends,
present (3rd person singular)
-
upended,
past participle, past
-
upending
present participle
-
to set on end, as a barrel or ship.
-
to affect drastically or radically, as tastes, opinions, reputations, or systems.
-
to defeat in competition, as in boxing or business.
verb (used without object)
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upends,
present (3rd person singular)
-
upended,
past participle, past
-
upending
present participle
-
to become upended.
-
to place the body back-end up, as a dabbling duck.
verb
-
to turn or set or become turned or set on end
-
(tr) to affect or upset drastically
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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upendsimple
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upendssimple
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have upendedperfect
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has upendedperfect
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am upendingprogressive
-
are upendingprogressive
-
is upendingprogressive
-
have been upendingperfect progressive
-
has been upendingperfect progressive
Past
-
upendedsimple
-
had upendedperfect
-
was upendingprogressive
-
were upendingprogressive
-
had been upendingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of upend
Explanation
When you upend something, you flip it over or tip it on one side. Tell your sister you won't play checkers with her anymore if she continues to upend the board angrily every time she loses. To move the table from one room to another, you might have to upend it so it'll fit through the door, resting it on one end. The other way to upend something is to invert it, or turn it onto the opposite side, the way you upend a bottle of root beer over a glass or upend your school bag and shake the contents onto your bed to find that lost pack of gum.
Vocabulary lists containing upend
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:
Residents had challenged the evictions in the Delhi High Court, arguing that moving so far from their jobs, schools and communities would upend their lives.
From BBC ● Nov. 3, 2026
U.S. stocks could face a serious test in 2027 as a tsunami of new equity issuance threatens to upend the artificial-intelligence-driven bull market, according to hedge-fund billionaire Paul Tudor Jones.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 13, 2026
False charges of AI cheating can tarnish academic records or upend career prospects of students.
From Barron's ● Oct. 6, 2026
New Apple CEO John Ternus may want to watch his back, because Meta Platforms is making a play to upend the smartphone giant’s ecosystem, analysts say.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 1, 2026
Between the two of us, we push and drag and tug that coffin out the narrow door, upend it, turn it around, and put it in the room next door.
From "Before We Were Free" by Julia Alvarez
And in the high-fashion world, model Gabbriette Bechtel embodies the edginess of contemporary Latina Goth looks, one that upends vintage Chicana beauty conventions by pushing them into a more avant-garde space.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 28, 2026
“It’s kind of an investment that you can’t really get to without either borrowing against it or selling, which then upends your life. For me, it just doesn’t feel like it’s liquid enough.”
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 16, 2026
Whether the Lucas Museum upends the art world may depend less on whether other museums adopt its philosophy than on whether audiences embrace the connections it attempts to draw.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 9, 2026
"It really upends a theory that says that symbolic rule induction is not possible without linguistic capacities," says Kean.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 11, 2026
The assistant director picks up the bag and unties its throat and upends a wrapped bundle into his palm.
From "All the Light We Cannot See" by Anthony Doerr
Airbus kept to its target of delivering a record 870 commercial aircraft this year, beating the 863 it handed over to airlines in 2019 before the Covid pandemic upended the industry.
From Barron's ● Oct. 28, 2026
Holmes upended their careers and lives, the couple have said “I do.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 21, 2026
The rally in consumer staples also upended a longstanding market dynamic.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 20, 2026
His widow Yvonne Akinyi described how the killing upended their family, saying their children were now orphans.
From BBC ● Oct. 11, 2026
I thought of his fiancee and wondered what it meant to see the future upended with no explanation.
From "Between the World and Me" by Ta-Nehisi Coates
Mega-brokerage Compass is taking more listings offline, sparking backlash from rivals who say the practice is upending decades of market transparency.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 16, 2026
His acknowledgements cite the help of OpenAI models and says that he welcomes any questions about the role of AI, which is upending his entire field.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 8, 2026
A record-breaking El Nino will likely force the world's top chefs to rethink their menus ahead of droughts, floods and heatwaves upending global food systems.
From Barron's ● Sep. 26, 2026
Ford made their name with the micro-indie, micro-focused “Test Pattern,” an act of upending as it dissected an interracial relationship’s fault lines in a moment of crisis.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 28, 2026
“I hope you are staying out of trouble, jeremie,” said Sister Claire, upending a chair to dust the bottom, and looking at me suspiciously.
From "Taste of Salt: A Story of Modern Haiti" by Frances Temple
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