noun
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a revolt or rebellion
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archaic an ascent
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of uprising
Middle English word dating back to 1200–50; see origin at up-, rising
Explanation
An organized rebellion, especially against an authority or government — is an uprising. If your entire math class joined together in rebellion against your teacher's unfair grading practices, you could call it an uprising. The word uprising is most often used to describe a political revolt, often a violent insurrection against the established rule, but its original meaning was very different. In the thirteenth century, an uprising was a resurrection, or "the action of rising from the grave," and soon after that it meant "an action of rising from the bed." It wasn't until the late 1500's that it came to mean "revolt."
Vocabulary lists containing uprising
Born a Crime
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Stamped
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Catching Fire
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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:
Nationwide, some 50,000 people were detained in connection to the uprising, according to Human Rights Activists in Iran, a U.S.-based rights group that monitors the country.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 19, 2026
The uprising is a sight to behold, and this summer I went to Albania and beheld it.
From Slate ● Sep. 8, 2026
During the first intifada or uprising, which began in 1987, Mansour helped found the New Vision collective with other artists, including Tamari.
From BBC ● Aug. 26, 2026
The Flock uprising, though, is the stirrings of public understanding that none of this inevitable — and we have the right to fight back.
From Salon ● Aug. 14, 2026
“There’s an uprising in Eight?” he says in a hushed voice.
From "Catching Fire" by Suzanne Collins
The federal government was given the responsibility for putting down rebellions, which in practice meant crushing slave uprisings and resistance.
From Salon ● May 14, 2026
"We've seen this before," Ali said — protests, promises, crackdowns — pointing back to 2009 and earlier uprisings in Iran.
From BBC ● Feb. 6, 2026
The armed forces, whose top leadership has remained loyal to the regime through various uprisings over the years, has some 125,000 members.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 3, 2026
Some companies called on state militia and federal troops to put down uprisings and hired private security forces to protect so-called scabs.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 12, 2025
Eventually dissension and uprisings led to the collapse of the Mayan state.
From "An Indigenous People’s History of the United States" by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz
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.
