upsurge

American  

[uhp-surj, uhp-surj] / ʌpˈsɜrdʒ, ˈʌpˌsɜrdʒ /

verb (used without object)

upsurged, upsurging

1. to surge up; increase; rise.

   Water upsurged. Crime upsurged.

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noun

1. the act of surging up; a large or rapid increase.

   an upsurge in sales.

upsurge British  

verb

1. literary (intr) to surge up

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noun

1. a rapid rise or swell

Etymology

Origin of upsurge

First recorded in 1915–20; up- + surge

Explanation

An upsurge is when there's a sudden rise of something's strength or size. Hordes of people walking around your town with cameras might be due to an upsurge in tourism, for example. News shows often announce that there's an upsurge of crime or an upsurge of available jobs in public education. The noun upsurge is most often used in this figurative way, rather than to talk about something literally surging up, like stormy waves. These are more likely to be described as a surge, which is actually the root of upsurge — a surge is a "high, rolling swell of water," from the Latin surgere, "to rise."

Example Sentences

Though alert Publisher Farrar finds Upsurge "impossible to describe," he admits that this manifesto-poem is "frankly a message."

From Time Magazine Archive

Upsurge of Bahá’u’lláh’s impelling Spirit can not, will not, be stemmed nor impeded.

From Messages to America by Shoghi Effendi

Related Words

• boom
• improvement
• recovery
• upswing
• upturn