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

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

But as the battle to save Ransom wages on, a mysterious cowboy drifts into town, dredging up secrets from the past. —Ross Rosenfeld, MSNBC Newsweek, 22 Apr. 2025

Back then, many advisors were dredging up this old idea to help ease worried investors’ fears. —Michael Foster, Forbes.com, 22 Apr. 2025

But getting the band, a long-estranged former couple, back together begins to dredge up old tensions, leaving them to grapple with whether the past can—or indeed should—stay in the past. —Lisa Wong MacAbasco, Vogue, 28 Mar. 2025

Rhymes for dredge up

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