upsurge
Americanverb (used without object)
noun
verb
noun
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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upsurgesimple
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upsurgessimple
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have upsurgedperfect
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has upsurgedperfect
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am upsurgingprogressive
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are upsurgingprogressive
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is upsurgingprogressive
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have been upsurgingperfect progressive
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has been upsurgingperfect progressive
Past
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upsurgedsimple
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had upsurgedperfect
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was upsurgingprogressive
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were upsurgingprogressive
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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:
But Hong Kong aviation giant Cathay Pacific has raised its surcharges several times since February, even as it announced extra flights to Europe for what it called an "upsurge in market demand".
From Barron's ● Apr. 9, 2026
Investors have been fleeing the AI trade—not withstanding a dramatic upsurge today—with one exception: data center real estate investment trusts.
From Barron's ● Feb. 6, 2026
In 1917, during World War I, Weber detected an upsurge of irrationality that suggested sociology cannot master religion—the return of the ancient gods as disenchanted “impersonal forces,” notably in the impolite social form of politics.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 31, 2025
However, there are some signs that the upsurge in mpox infections is reducing, according to medics working at a clinic in eastern DR Congo.
From BBC ● Nov. 29, 2024
Meanwhile, farmers in Louisiana showed growing reluctance to sign up for the project as it became evident that use of chemicals against the fire ant was causing an upsurge of insects destructive to sugarcane.
From "Silent Spring" by Rachel Carson
There have been previous upsurges of mass protest.
From BBC ● Jul. 23, 2025
Analysts at BoFA Global Research cautioned that past instances when the S&P has gone long without a 5% pullback ended with upsurges of volatility in August 2015 and February 2018.
From Reuters ● Aug. 17, 2021
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 2003 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
To hold the opinion that this upsurging of peoples can be met by proletarian-democratic compromises is childish.
From Time Magazine Archive
In the same way, all retailers and many manufacturers were being squeezed by upsurging commodity prices.
From Time Magazine Archive
Other topics discussed at the Philadelphia meeting: �Henri Bergson's sense of motion and change led to the �lan vital theory which presents a mysterious, inward, upsurging force as the driving influence of evolution.
From Time Magazine Archive
Per�n quickly consolidated his power by putting his men in control of the upsurging industrial trade unions, long suppressed by the country's ruling clique of landowners.
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 Fisher, Dorothy Canfield
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.
