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

Joe played it, hearing his tearful wife speak of how the Vines mess dredged up, yet again, so much of the pain of losing their son. —Matt Webb Mitovich, TVLine, 27 Apr. 2025

Pugh stars in the latest Marvel film in a team of anti-heroes as Yelena Belova, getting caught in a deadly trap and forced to work together on a mission that will dredge up their pasts—already, the film is receiving positive reviews. —Anna Cafolla, Vogue, 23 Apr. 2025

But some residents worry that the proposal to deepen and widen the shipping channel to accommodate the massive container vessels will dredge up toxic contaminants from steel making, still buried in the bottom of the Patapsco River. —Timothy B. Wheeler, Baltimore Sun, 22 Apr. 2025

Not to dredge up conspiracy theories, but it should be noted that Wednesday was veteran official Scott Foster’s first game back on the sidelines in two months. —Sean Keeler, Denver Post, 7 May 2025

Rhymes for dredge up

• buttercup
• backup
• blowup
• breakup
• buildup
• checkup
• cleanup
• holdup
• hookup
• lineup
• lockup
• makeup