: relating to, being, or appealing to affluent consumers
also
: of a superior quality
upscaled; upscaling; upscales
1
: to make (something) more appealing to affluent consumers : to make (something) more upscale
The council is renaming them the Fashion Awards, globalizing them, moving the hoopla around them to the Royal Albert Hall and otherwise upscaling them.—Vanessa Friedman
"Everybody's trying to upscale men's colognes because the prestige brands have taken share from the mass brands," says cosmetics industry consultant Allan Mottus.—Ronald Alsop
also
: to improve the quality of (something)
… even retained a handwriting teacher to upscale her penmanship—no more tiny circles over her i's. —Brad Darrach
2
: to increase the size; scope, or scale of (something)
A star is an upscaled nuclear reactor, not a bonfire.—Laurence A. Marschall
As a result, an upscaling of the problem of underrepresentation to the national scale mobilizes scalar politics …—Emily Skop
: to or toward the upper, more expensive end of a range of products or services
He tried to move upscale—toward higher-cost, higher-profit garments, which, in theory, would be less susceptible to price competition.—James Lardner
… chef Celestino Drago has taken Sicilian cuisine upscale in his chic Santa Monica restaurant.—Thomas Matthews
Cite this Entry
“Upscale.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/upscale. Accessed 1 Oct. 2026.
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