dredge up
Britishverb
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to bring to notice, esp with considerable effort and from an obscure, remote, or unlikely source
to dredge up worthless ideas
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to raise with or as if with a dredge
they dredged up the corpse from the lake
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.
Just five years ago, the same agency—then under former Gov. Andrew Cuomo—had denied the permit, citing the likelihood that it would dredge up toxic material.
From Barron's • Nov. 7, 2025
The Delaware trial isn’t about Hunter Biden’s foreign business affairs, though the proceedings were likely to dredge up dark, embarrassing and painful memories.
From Seattle Times • Jun. 3, 2024
He helped dredge up, compile and standardize many of those older reports.
From Science Daily • Apr. 16, 2024
This is partially due to the fact, as corporations dredge up sand from the sea, they start altering local geography such as the shape of coastlines and the presence of small islands.
From Salon • Feb. 25, 2024
“My husband was an important man, and I am pleased that you remember his films with such fondness, but he’s become so fragile. It’s not a good idea to dredge up the past for him.”
From "The Invention of Hugo Cabret" by Brian Selznick
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.
