soar
Americanverb (used without object)
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soars,
present (3rd person singular)
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soared,
past participle, past
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soaring
present participle
noun
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an act or instance of soaring.
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the height attained in soaring.
verb
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to rise or fly upwards into the air
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(of a bird, aircraft, etc) to glide while maintaining altitude by the use of ascending air currents
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to rise or increase in volume, size, etc
soaring prices
noun
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the act of soaring
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the altitude attained by soaring
Synonym Usage
See fly 2.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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soarsimple
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soarssimple
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have soaredperfect
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has soaredperfect
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am soaringprogressive
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are soaringprogressive
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is soaringprogressive
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have been soaringperfect progressive
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has been soaringperfect progressive
Past
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soaredsimple
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had soaredperfect
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was soaringprogressive
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were soaringprogressive
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had been soaringperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of soar
First recorded in 1325–75; Middle English soren, from Middle French essorer, from unattested Vulgar Latin exaurāre, equivalent to Latin ex- ex- 1 + aur(a) “air” + -āre infinitive suffix
Explanation
To soar means more than just to fly; it means to rise swiftly, to feel the wind slipping below you as you ride it higher, higher, higher. Flying is just moving through the air. Soaring, though, suggests exhilaration, even joy. Think about the anticipation you feel when you buy a lottery ticket — your hopes soar as you contemplate the possibilities. It's the same wonderful feeling you get when someone you have a crush on notices you, when you land that perfect job, when you hold your child. The word soar comes from the Latin, ex-, which means "out," and aura, meaning "breeze, air," together meaning "out of the air," which is precisely how it feels to soar.
Vocabulary lists containing soar
"Romeo and Juliet" by William Shakespeare, Act I
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Metaphors from Top AP English Exam Novels
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Higher Learning: Synonyms For "Up"
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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:
The company saw profits soar 557% in the latest quarter, and analysts model 484% growth for the full year.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 19, 2026
Inside, the eye immediately travels upward, led by rows of slightly sloping, fluted, twisting columns that seem to soar to the heavens.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 14, 2026
Reforms under Zhu sparked a boom in real estate and construction, which would soar to become a quarter of China's economy before a crippling debt crisis struck in 2020.
From Barron's ● Aug. 12, 2026
"Days of danger" is the Daily Mirror's headline, leading with swimming warnings as "temperatures set to soar again".
From BBC ● Aug. 10, 2026
Then I saw it: a flash of chrome, a white helmet, a missile-like soar.
From "The London Eye Mystery" by Siobhan Dowd
Plus, Coach owner Tapestry tumbles and Workday soars.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 14, 2026
As Amazon soars, nowhere is Bezos’ astronomical wealth more tangibly displayed than in his $500 million real estate empire.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 10, 2026
Off the entry and through an archway, the architectural heart of the century-old home soars upward: the living room’s open-beam, 25-foot ceiling with its original deep teal stain.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 21, 2026
Instead, the album really soars when it gets autobiographical.
From BBC ● Jul. 2, 2026
The star soars diagonally across the blue-black sky, leaving a trail of—what?
From "Will’s Race for Home" by Jewell Parker Rhodes
Shares of the Bitcoin investor have soared this week, putting them on course for their best three-day stretch since November 2024.
From Barron's ● Aug. 22, 2026
The blogging baseball fan Robert Kopecky points out that at that time the sport’s popularity had soared, with average attendance per game doubling to more than 31,000 from about 15,500 over the previous two decades.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 21, 2026
Returning to the pandemic example, corporate profit margins soared after COVID-19 went global.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 17, 2026
Stock-market dispersion—or the divergence in performance between individual stocks in the same index—has soared to the highest level in decades this year.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 16, 2026
They soared over us, ranting and raving and angrily flapping their wings.
From "Summer of the Mariposas" by Guadalupe García McCall
It’s about soaring national debts, coupled with a refusal to admit that there is any limit to the amount that can be borrowed.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 19, 2026
That has stoked inflation expectations and sent US government debt costs soaring.
From Barron's ● Aug. 19, 2026
The positive results sent Moderna’s share price soaring and rippled through drug industry stocks as investors saw the potential for more future blockbusters.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 19, 2026
Companies last year bought more than 36,700 robots, the highest number of orders since 2022, when businesses were rushing to outfit their warehouses with technology to meet soaring e-commerce demand during the pandemic.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 17, 2026
Daniel spreads his arms wide as he runs, like he might be a bird, a bird soaring in the sky, not a kid running across an open field.
From "A Bird Will Soar" by Alison Green Myers
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.
