upbringing
Americannoun
-
upbringings
plural
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of upbringing
First recorded in 1475–85; gerund of upbring “to rear children” (obsolete since the 16th century)
Explanation
Your upbringing is how you were raised as a child. You might have had a rough upbringing or a gentler one, but at least you made it this far. Looking at the base “bring” in upbringing, we find a Germanic origin meaning "to carry." You might consider the "carry" idea as a way to remember the word, considering a parent "carries" a child to adulthood, providing what then becomes the child’s upbringing.
Vocabulary lists containing upbringing
"Marriage is a Private Affair" by Chinua Achebe
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Elijah of Buxton
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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:
He said his ultra-Orthodox upbringing had shaped his "socialist" outlook, as his father had followed the Jewish commandment to give charity to the poor.
From Barron's ● Aug. 27, 2026
And the music of both Parton’s and Smarsh’s upbringing was “foremost a language among women. It’s how we talked to each other in a place where feelings aren’t discussed.”
From Salon ● Aug. 25, 2026
Now, he's excavating his diary to write about his rural upbringing and experiences of working in Las Vegas casinos.
From BBC ● Aug. 21, 2026
How can a black boy be fearless in America, Bernadette asks, and answers: What follows for John is a warped upbringing of parental favoritism mixed with cruelly rigorous training.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 14, 2026
He was kind—unnaturally kind, for someone of his upbringing.
From "Throne of Glass" by Sarah J. Maas
Both had tough upbringings marked by an absent father, intermittently absent mother and reliable grandparents.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 26, 2026
The Iranian Lego team, as they also refer to themselves, is a small group that has found broad appeal by capitalizing on Millennial and Gen Z nostalgia for a toy central to their upbringings.
From Salon ● Apr. 26, 2026
Though their upbringings were markedly different, it was their shared comedic sensibilities that connected Jimenez and McMechan when they met in college.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 4, 2026
A former police captain, vice president-elect Edman Lara is known for his humble upbringings and whistleblowing on police corruption.
From BBC ● Oct. 20, 2025
I'd always known that my mom and I had completely different upbringings.
From "Americanized" by Sara Saedi
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.
