noun
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a revolt or rebellion
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archaic an ascent
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of uprising
Middle English word dating back to 1200–50; see origin at up-, rising
Explanation
An organized rebellion, especially against an authority or government — is an uprising. If your entire math class joined together in rebellion against your teacher's unfair grading practices, you could call it an uprising. The word uprising is most often used to describe a political revolt, often a violent insurrection against the established rule, but its original meaning was very different. In the thirteenth century, an uprising was a resurrection, or "the action of rising from the grave," and soon after that it meant "an action of rising from the bed." It wasn't until the late 1500's that it came to mean "revolt."
Vocabulary lists containing uprising
Born a Crime
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Stamped
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Catching Fire
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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:
Hilton, 57, was born in London to parents who fled conflict in their native Hungary during the 1956 uprising against the Soviet-controlled communist government and later anglicized their surname, Hircsák, to Hilton.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 12, 2026
But even “A Different World” hit its limits when it plunged the audience inside the Black folks’ shock and despair after the 1992 Los Angeles uprising.
From Salon ● Sep. 24, 2026
One state away, a twin uprising was under way.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 17, 2026
The uprising is a sight to behold, and this summer I went to Albania and beheld it.
From Slate ● Sep. 8, 2026
“Someone must have told the Capitol that the idea for the uprising had started there,” Twill tells me faintly.
From "Catching Fire" by Suzanne Collins
The federal government was given the responsibility for putting down rebellions, which in practice meant crushing slave uprisings and resistance.
From Salon ● May 14, 2026
The intifada refers to the Palestinian civilian uprisings against Israel in 1987-1993 and the early 2000s.
From Barron's ● May 2, 2026
Like previous uprisings, this too was crushed - Beijing says 22 people died, but Tibetan groups in exile estimate it was around 200.
From BBC ● Mar. 9, 2026
"We've seen this before," Ali said — protests, promises, crackdowns — pointing back to 2009 and earlier uprisings in Iran.
From BBC ● Feb. 6, 2026
“Only you’ll have to do even better if the uprisings are to be averted,” he says.
From "Catching Fire" by Suzanne Collins
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
