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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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:
Harp has shared little about her upbringing publicly.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 30, 2026
When he does speak, his words carry a faint Southern twang from his upbringing in Alabama.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 29, 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
He was a Puerto Rican New Yorker, strong by birth and by upbringing.
From "The Dead and the Gone" by Susan Beth Pfeffer
Both had tough upbringings marked by an absent father, intermittently absent mother and reliable grandparents.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 26, 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
They sat in small circles alongside therapists and police officers, discussing their upbringings, their hopes for the future and swapping techniques for dealing with sadness and stress.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 31, 2024
This phrase was repeated by several others who shared their recollections of Zionist upbringings.
From Salon ● Apr. 21, 2024
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.
