upon

American  

[uh-pon, uh-pawn] / əˈpɒn, əˈpɔn /

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.

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upon British  

/ 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

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upon Idioms  

1. see act on (upon); call on (upon); chance on (upon); come across (upon); come on (upon); count on (upon); dawn on (upon); dwell on (upon); enter on (upon); fall back on (upon); fall on (upon); grow on (upon); hard on (upon); hit on (upon); incumbent upon; light on (upon); once upon a time; pitch on (upon); play on (upon); put upon; seize on (upon); set at (upon); take it upon oneself; wait on (upon); weigh on (upon); work on (upon).

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Etymology

Origin of upon

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

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

upon

When things go wrong they are relied upon for investigations and legal challenges.

From BBC ● Oct. 7, 2026

The “coastally trapped” aquatic pulse has been slithering up the coast for weeks, fascinating scientists and weather watchers as it marched across the equatorial Pacific before splitting upon hitting the coast of Peru.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 7, 2026

John’s grandfather, an organist, impresses upon his pupil that music will only torment him if he thinks of it as an art form to be perfected; he must instead treat it as a “commodity.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 6, 2026

Without us, there is no one to hoist blame upon when the film reveals its layers, no one to compare to the film’s wide-eyed spectators of global collapse.

From Salon ● Oct. 5, 2026

I think maybe the compass incident, the disaster he had so nearly brought upon us that day, had changed him, made him more aware of other people.

From "An Elephant in the Garden" by Michael Morpurgo