dredge up

phrasal verb

dredged up; dredging up; dredges up

: to start talking or thinking again about (something unpleasant that happened a long time ago)

Reporters dredged up the fact that the senator avoided the military draft.

She didn't like to dredge up bad memories.

Examples of dredge up in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Have any research discoveries been made as a result of dredging up these slave ships? —Julian Lucas, The New Yorker, 9 July 2024

The effect is intentionally childish, faded, and a little creepy, because dredging up images from one’s past is an emotional effort central to the book. —Chelsea Leu, The Atlantic, 12 June 2024

Throughout the picture, Shula and other girls are told not to dredge up the past, or do anything that could harm their extended family’s unity and stability. —Bilge Ebiri, Vulture, 26 May 2024

The GOP has dredged up his old positions, including a 2017 vote against a bill aimed at defunding sanctuary cities, to present him as soft on the border. —Tim Balk, New York Daily News, 7 Feb. 2024