upending

verb

present participle of upend
1
as in defeating
to achieve a victory over the team won the division play-offs, but was upended in the final championship game

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in erecting
to fix in an upright position we had to upend the sofa in order to fit it into the elevator

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of upending Saudi Ministry of Media | Reuters Deadly attacks on Saudi Arabia's second-busiest airport over the past week are highlighting how conflicts in the Middle East are upending air travel on a larger scale. — Leslie Josephs, CNBC, 13 Oct. 2026 Adrift Buendía Estudios Canarias, Boomerang TV, Atresmedia Five fishermen, who are presumed dead, return home two years later, upending the lives their wives had rebuilt without them. — Emiliano De Pablos, Variety, 11 Oct. 2026 This is important to me, because as much as these tech companies claim to be upending everything with AI and claiming extraordinarily special privileges as a result, there is still legal gravity constraining them. — James Folta, Literary Hub, 8 Oct. 2026 The United States joined Israel in attacking Iran’s military and nuclear program in two rounds, battering Iran and upending global markets far from the battlefield. — Melanie Lidman, Los Angeles Times, 7 Oct. 2026 For the Brotherhood, Rabaa became the defining catastrophe of its post-2013 political memory, upending its organization, self-conception, and belief in its own permanence. — Abdelrahman Elgendy, Time, 6 Oct. 2026 And Sasha Tkachenko, head of studio at My Drama by Holywater Tech, predicted that the technology would also play an increasing role in microdramas and vertical content in general, without upending traditional skills completely. — Georg Szalai, HollywoodReporter, 2 Oct. 2026 Trump repeatedly attacked Warsh's predecessor, Jerome Powell, in harshly personal terms, upending decades of tradition in which presidents treated the Fed as independent. — ABC News, 15 Sep. 2026 The closure caused travel chaos across the world, upending travelers’ plans with thousands of flights affected. — Sana Noor Haq, CNN Money, 9 Sep. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for upending
  1. defeating
  2. erecting
  3. overcoming
  4. raising
  5. mastering
  6. taking
  7. beating
  8. dispatching
Verb
  • Republican Bo French, who previously chaired the Tarrant County GOP, faces Democrat Jon Rosenthal after defeating incumbent Jim Wright in a May Republican primary runoff for the state agency that regulates Texas’ oil and gas industry.
    — Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 18 Oct. 2026
  • There’s nothing more important than defeating his pathetic opponent, Mike Collins.
    — NBC news, NBC news, 18 Oct. 2026
Definition of defeating
Verb
  • The figures highlight the structural reliance of US tech on China, and the difficulties of erecting a materials and software firewall against Beijing.
    — Brendan Ruberry, semafor.com, 12 Oct. 2026
  • The authority will be erecting acoustic barriers and will send alerts for blasting and other disruptions.
    — Andy Sheehan, CBS News, 7 Oct. 2026
Definition of erecting
Verb
  • Others discussed overcoming the initial awkwardness of the work and finding satisfaction in helping doctors become more competent and compassionate.
    — Daniel Hunt, Sacbee.com, 18 Oct. 2026
  • These productions focused on accessibility, particularly for deaf and hard-of-hearing audiences, rather than overcoming language barriers.
    — New Atlas, New Atlas, 17 Oct. 2026
Definition of overcoming
Verb
  • Those officers were not wearing body cameras, raising questions about why the agency still hadn't gotten the cameras out to officers in the field.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 14 Oct. 2026
  • Similar federal lists in other states have proved highly inaccurate, raising concerns that eligible voters could be disenfranchised.
    — Kevin Rector, Los Angeles Times, 14 Oct. 2026
Definition of raising
Verb
  • Print out every word a child hears on the way to mastering language and the stack stands about as tall as a house.
    — Charles Yeomans, Forbes.com, 16 Oct. 2026
  • How to Prevent Sauces From Breaking When mastering a good sauce, there are a few key factors to keep in mind.
    — Laura Manzano, Martha Stewart, 14 Oct. 2026
Definition of mastering
Verb
  • Unlike traditional sports betting, prediction markets function more like exchanges, with participants taking positions against one another rather than against a house.
    — Aneri Jambusaria, Fortune, 18 Oct. 2026
  • During a recent town hall at the Ivy League school, one student raised the question of a Greek life ban, asking student organizers if taking that step might improve the culture on campus.
    — Brittany Shammas, CNN Money, 17 Oct. 2026
Definition of taking
Verb
  • Prosecutors claimed Davis acted out of revenge for Shakur and his crew previously beating on Orlando Anderson, Davis’ nephew.
    — Dominic Patten, Deadline, 13 Oct. 2026
  • Heavy winds, beating sun and wide, open spaces give the area plentiful access to cheap green energy and land.
    — Simone McCarthy, CNN Money, 13 Oct. 2026
Definition of beating
Verb
  • More important than the figures themselves is the engine’s broad, effortless power delivery, which makes the Carrera T feel eager whether carving through a mountain road or dispatching a stretch of freeway.
    — Bradley Iger, Robb Report, 16 Oct. 2026
  • Tory Burch excels at activating her frow-goers, dispatching content creators like Tefi Pessoa and Kennedy Eurich as correspondents, who saturate social media with guest interviews and interactions.
    — Joan Kennedy, Vogue, 12 Oct. 2026
Definition of dispatching

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Cite this Entry

“Upending.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/upending. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.

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