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.
Shinsegae chairman Chung Yong-jin bowed in apology over the incident during the Tuesday news briefing and asked for forgiveness from bereaved families of the victims of the May 18 Democratic Uprising.
From Barron's • May 26, 2026
It was this same practicality that pushed her to get a job at the Inner City Cultural Center, a multicultural theater company born in the wake of the Watts Uprising.
From Los Angeles Times • May 7, 2026
Holocaust Memorial Museum had used the term in translating a text about the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising into Arabic.
From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 17, 2025
While living under a false identity, she was imprisoned as a Polish Catholic after the Warsaw Uprising of 1944.
From BBC • Sep. 26, 2025
As I hope for the future Uprising, deny it who can, Two years I have worn the Blue Ribbon, come next Ramadan!
From The Battle of the Bays by Seaman, Owen, Sir
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.
