trade up

verb

traded up; trading up; trades up

intransitive verb

1

: to trade in (something, such as an automobile) for something more expensive or valuable of its kind

2

: to stock or purchase higher-priced items

Examples of trade up in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Take a look at what earnings per share has done (orange line) since the last time Incyte traded up here. — Josh Brown,sean Russo, CNBC, 3 Aug. 2026

And change is good because Savaiinaea, a former Arizona standout the Dolphins traded up to select in the second round of the 2025 NFL draft, was a disaster last season. — Omar Kelly, Miami Herald, 2 Aug. 2026

Homeowners who locked in mortgage rates below today’s have little financial incentive to sell and trade up to a higher one. — Sharon Wu, USA Today, 30 July 2026

Older millennials have become the highest-earning, biggest-spending buyer segment in the housing market, with median household income of $132,700, largely leveraging home equity to trade up rather than buying for the first time. — Nick Lichtenberg, Fortune, 27 July 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1905, in the meaning defined at sense 2

Rhymes for trade up

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