upstart

American  

[uhp-stahrt, uhp-stahrt] / ˈʌpˌstɑrt, ʌpˈstɑrt /

noun

1. a person who has risen suddenly from a humble position to wealth, power, or a position of consequence.

2. a presumptuous and objectionable person who has so risen; parvenu.

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adjective

1. being, resembling, or characteristic of an upstart.

verb (used without object)

• upstarts,
  present (3rd person singular)
• upstarted,
  past participle,  past
• upstarting
  present participle

1. to spring into existence or into view.

2. to start up; spring up, as to one's feet.

verb (used with object)

• upstarts,
  present (3rd person singular)
• upstarted,
  past participle,  past
• upstarting
  present participle

1. to cause to start up.

upstart British  

noun

1. 1. a person, group, etc, that has risen suddenly to a position of power or wealth

   2. ( as modifier )

      an upstart tyrant

      an upstart family

2. 1. an arrogant or presumptuous person

   2. ( as modifier )

      his upstart ambition

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verb

1. archaic (intr) to start up, as in surprise, etc

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• upstartness
  noun

Inflected Forms

Participles

• upstarting
  present
• upstarted
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• upstart
  simple
• upstarts
  simple
• have upstarted
  perfect
• has upstarted
  perfect
• am upstarting
  progressive
• are upstarting
  progressive
• is upstarting
  progressive
• have been upstarting
  perfect progressive
• has been upstarting
  perfect progressive

Past

• upstarted
  simple
• had upstarted
  perfect
• was upstarting
  progressive
• were upstarting
  progressive
• had been upstarting
  perfect progressive

Future

• will upstart
  simple
• will have upstarted
  perfect
• will be upstarting
  progressive
• will have been upstarting
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of upstart

1275–1325; Middle English (v.); see up-, start

Explanation

An upstart is someone who's cocky and arrogant, and who doesn't show much respect for other people. There are many ways of starting up trouble — one is by being an upstart. Upstarts are people who are full of themselves and dismissive of others. Often, an upstart is a young person or newcomer. A new employee who acts like he knows more than everyone else is an upstart. An arrogant rookie on a sports team is an upstart. In the 1500s, upstart and start-up were both used to mean the same thing, "one newly risen in importance."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

upstart upstarts upstarted upstarting

We are a culture enamored of the child prodigy, the precocious upstart, the tender sprouting genius.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 13, 2026

British-born businessmen Ben Delo and Christopher Harborne said they each gave £36 million, equivalent to $48.7 million, to Reform UK to help professionalize the upstart party ahead of the next general election expected by 2029.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 12, 2026

Pipeline giant Energy Transfer, whose boss is a backer of the upstart bourse, said it would move its primary listing there.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 10, 2026

LIV Golf CEO Scott O’Neil says a lead investor has been secured to keep the upstart tour afloat, and the golfers will be majority equity holders.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 9, 2026

Much of it came from poorly paid state functionaries whose livelihoods depended on using police and administrative authority to extract cash from upstart capitalists.

From "Escape from Camp 14: One Man's Remarkable Odyssey from North Korea to Freedom in the West" by Blaine Harden

The University of Chicago and Stanford also began as upstarts funded by private fortunes.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 8, 2026

As high-school math students gear up to buy the newest version of Texas Instruments’ TI-84 graphic calculator, cheaper upstarts are trying to break the company’s decades-old grip on the market.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 18, 2026

The design-software company has struggled to convince investors that its pricing model and artificial-intelligence offerings are enough to compete with cheaper upstarts, and Bank of America’s Tal Liani isn’t optimistic that sentiment will change.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 7, 2026

The man who shockingly demoted then-24-year-old goalkeeper Guillermo “Memo” Ochoa in favor of a more experienced player prior to the 2010 World Cup was now relying on upstarts.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 30, 2026

Because the least valued oil leases were offered first, the barons usually lingered in the back, leaving the initial bidding to upstarts.

From "Killers of the Flower Moon" by David Grann

In an industry where guerrilla tactics pay off, Kahn upstarted the upstarts.

From Time Magazine Archive

With hands hard-clenched The King upstarted: thus his voice rang out: 'Beware, who gave ill counsel to their King!

From Legends of the Saxon Saints by Aubrey De Vere

Roused at one call, upstarted from one bed, Press’d in one crowd, appall’d with one amaze, He turns them o’er, Eternity! to thee.

From Young's Night Thoughts With Life, Critical Dissertation and Explanatory Notes by Edward Young

And in this:— "Ghastly amazement! with upstarted hair, Shall hurry on before, and usher us, Whilst trumpets clamor with a sound of death."

From The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 20, No. 122, December, 1867 by Various

Then labor came next, and the conflict began With monsters and beasts famed in song; And heroes upstarted, as rulers of man, And the weak sought the aid of the strong.

From The Poems of Schiller — Third period by Friedrich Schiller

Hand-clappings, cheers, a stirring of the crowd, and the upstarting of the brass band climaxed the rhetorical peroration, and Elsa glanced anxiously over her shoulder.

From The King of Arcadia by Francis Lynde

Be that word our sign of parting,   Bird or fiend," I shrieked, upstarting; "Get thee back into the tempest     And the night's Plutonian shore!

From McGuffey's Sixth Eclectic Reader by William Holmes McGuffey

Here! 'tis time you were departing, bird or not," I cried, upstarting; "Get you back unto the Carlton, they on parrot-cries set store.

From Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 99, August 23, 1890 by Various

Mrs. Heth, curiously, had been brought down in full flight: perhaps by the force of that wild upstarting, perhaps by the grisly threat about the Cooneys.

From V. V.'s Eyes by Henry Sydnor Harrison

Then they shook their medicine-pouches O'er the head of Hiawatha, 145Danced their medicine-dance around him; And upstarting wild and haggard, Like a man from dreams awakened, He was healed of all his madness.

From The Song of Hiawatha An Epic Poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow