upsurge
Americanverb (used without object)
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upsurges,
present (3rd person singular)
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upsurged,
past participle, past
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upsurging
present participle
noun
verb
noun
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
upsurgesimple
-
upsurgessimple
-
have upsurgedperfect
-
has upsurgedperfect
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am upsurgingprogressive
-
are upsurgingprogressive
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is upsurgingprogressive
-
have been upsurgingperfect progressive
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has been upsurgingperfect progressive
Past
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upsurgedsimple
-
had upsurgedperfect
-
was upsurgingprogressive
-
were upsurgingprogressive
-
had been upsurgingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of upsurge
Explanation
An upsurge is when there's a sudden rise of something's strength or size. Hordes of people walking around your town with cameras might be due to an upsurge in tourism, for example. News shows often announce that there's an upsurge of crime or an upsurge of available jobs in public education. The noun upsurge is most often used in this figurative way, rather than to talk about something literally surging up, like stormy waves. These are more likely to be described as a surge, which is actually the root of upsurge — a surge is a "high, rolling swell of water," from the Latin surgere, "to rise."
Vocabulary lists containing upsurge
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 mountain also saw a "big upsurge" in heather beetles this year - possibly linked to milder winters.
From BBC ● Aug. 6, 2026
These days, the upsurge in streaming television and its hunger for content has made books an even more ubiquitous source of intellectual property for the small screen.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 10, 2026
Scientists say that last year's upsurge was driven by fast-growing numbers of bears, combined with a falling human population, especially in rural areas.
From Barron's ● May 8, 2026
Hellenists like myself have been delighted by this upsurge of Greek drama but also perplexed by the dominance of a single playwright and a single set of myths.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 6, 2026
Sergei Diaghilev, art, dance and music lover, saw in this upsurge of Russian cultural pride an opportunity.
From "The Story of Music" by Howard Goodall
There have been previous upsurges of mass protest.
From BBC ● Jul. 23, 2025
Extreme weather events like floods are overwhelming health services, displacing communities, causing upsurges in infection and interrupting treatment in many different places, the report said.
From Reuters ● Sep. 17, 2023
After that, anomie set in, broken now and then by upsurges in talk of further manned voyages to the moon and a new quest to place astronauts on Mars.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 6, 2021
Parkview’s Dr. Jason Row said recent upsurges in cases and hospitalizations at his facilities seem to mirror some dropped caution as stay-at-home rules are relaxed.
From Washington Times ● Jun. 23, 2020
More recently, many of these troops have been redeployed back to Burundi to deal with periodic upsurges in rebel activity.
From The 2002 CIA World Factbook by United States. Central Intelligence Agency
That's certainly what I think happened with Ariel – her whole trauma, her father's death upsurged.
From The Guardian ● Jan. 18, 2013
In the same way, all retailers and many manufacturers were being squeezed by upsurging commodity prices.
From Time Magazine Archive
To hold the opinion that this upsurging of peoples can be met by proletarian-democratic compromises is childish.
From Time Magazine Archive
And it was true, I could feel, just as I dreamed, the upsurging of the feeling, brimming over, boiling up, brimming over.
From The Brimming Cup by Dorothy Canfield Fisher
The play of water evokes a melody of line and the result is a sense of upsurging joy.
From The Loves of Krishna in Indian Painting and Poetry by W. G. Archer
It was followed by an upsurging wave from the ocean, which added to the fear of the people, but which receded slowly and with little damage.
From Plotting in Pirate Seas by C. A. (Charles A.) Federer
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.
