trade up

British  

verb

1. (intr, adverb) to sell a small or relatively inexpensive house, car, etc, and replace it with a larger or more expensive one

---

trade up Idioms  

1. see under trade down.

---

Example Sentences

General manager Les Snead has never been shy about attempting to trade up to select a desired player or back to acquire more draft capital.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 22, 2026

Would the Rams trade up or back from No. 13?

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 22, 2026

Moving from job to job allows workers to trade up to higher-paying employers.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 6, 2026

The announcement seemed to breathe a bit of life into some names of the AI trade: shares of Microsoft regained their losses from earlier in the day to trade up 0.3%.

From MarketWatch • Feb. 12, 2026

Talking with men in the Transient-House I heard of the fur trade up the river, how licensed trappers went up and downriver by sledge or iceboat through Tarrenpeth Forest almost to the Ice.

From "The Left Hand of Darkness" by Ursula K. Le Guin