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:
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
Deraa is widely seen as the birthplace of the uprising against Assad's rule.
From BBC ● Aug. 11, 2026
Syria's uprising began in Daraa in March 2011, after 15 students were arrested for allegedly writing anti-government slogans on the city's walls.
From Barron's ● Aug. 11, 2026
“Who keeps us safe?” began a popular call-and-response protest chant I first heard during the George Floyd uprising and that resurfaced during Metro Surge.
From Slate ● Jul. 27, 2026
The Green Movement was a political uprising in Iran that was ignited by the 2009 election.
From "Americanized" by Sara Saedi
It’s at the heart of antidiscrimination efforts and populist political uprisings.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 7, 2026
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
Those uprisings, later coined the Arab Spring, succeeded in bringing about a short democratic sojourn in Tunisia and a much briefer one in Egypt, but they also unleashed unrest.
From Barron's ● Apr. 10, 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
Maybe I didn’t know about the potential uprisings.
From "Catching Fire" by Suzanne Collins
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.
