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View synonyms for upon

upon

[ uh-pon, uh-pawn ]

preposition

  1. up and on; upward so as to get or be on:

    He climbed upon his horse and rode off.

  2. in an elevated position on:

    There is a television antenna upon every house in the neighborhood.

  3. in or into complete or approximate contact with, as an attacker or an important or pressing occasion:

    The enemy was upon us and our soldiers had little time to escape. The Christmas holiday will soon be upon us and we have hardly begun to buy gifts. The time to take action is upon us.

  4. immediately or very soon after:

    She went into mourning upon her husband's death.

  5. on the occasion of:

    She was joyful upon seeing her child take his first steps.

  6. on (in any of various senses, used as an equivalent of on with no added idea of ascent or elevation, and preferred in certain cases only for euphonic or metrical reasons):

    He swore upon his honor as a gentleman.



upon

/ əˈpɒn /

preposition

  1. another word for on
  2. indicating a position reached by going up

    climb upon my knee

  3. imminent for

    the weekend was upon us again

“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012


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Word History and Origins

Origin of upon1

First recorded in 1150–1200; Middle English; up (adverb) + on (preposition)
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Word History and Origins

Origin of upon1

C13: from up + on
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Example Sentences

Completed in 1953 and composed with standard line breaks and punctuation, the book was completely ignored upon submission.

Once upon a time, a girl named Onika Maraj dreamed of being an actress.

Excited, Shaheen wasted no time and began interviewing surgeons, deciding upon Dr. Curtis Crane in Greenbrae, California.

The poet apparently collapsed in the street upon his departure from “The Horse” and died not long after.

“I happened upon yak butter tea, a traditional high-energy food eaten by Tibetans,” Asprey says.

It is thinner than that of chronic bronchitis, and upon standing separates into three layers of pus, mucus, and frothy serum.

Other things being equal, the volume of voice used measures the value that the mind puts upon the thought.

He was too drowsy to hold the thought more than a moment in his mind, much less to reflect upon it.

In the year of misery, of agony and suffering in general he had endured, he had settled upon one theory.

He turned his eyes upon her; but no sympathy was in their beams; no belief in the semblance of her tears.

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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.

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Upoluup one's alley