1
: an upward grade or slope
a slight upgrade in the driveway
3
: improvement sense 2b
software/system upgrades
a room upgrade
upgraded; upgrading; upgrades
: to raise or improve the grade of: such as
a
: to advance to a job requiring a higher level of skill especially as part of a training program
b
: to raise the quality of
c
: to raise the classification and usually the price of without improving the quality
d
: to extend the usefulness of (something, such as a device)
e
: to assign a less serious status to
upgraded the patient's condition to good
f
: to improve (livestock) by use of purebred sires
1
: to replace something (such as software or an electronic device) with a more useful version or alternative
Upgrading to a new operating system can make people anxious, even under the best of circumstances.—
Macworld
Macworld2
: to get something of better quality than the original
We were able to upgrade to first class seats.
Examples of upgrade in a Sentence
Noun
a slight upgrade in the roadway
The hotel offered us a room upgrade.
Verb
This course will help you to upgrade your computer skills.
They've upgraded the quality of their service.
The city is upgrading the sewage treatment plant.
The office is upgrading the telephone system.
They upgraded the hotel to attract more business patrons.
We were able to upgrade to first class.
We had reserved a double room, but the hotel upgraded us to a suite.
Recent Examples on the Web
Aman Tripathi, Interesting Engineering, 5 Nov. 2025
Rounding out the mechanical upgrades is a revised braking system, which should come in handy on particularly treacherous routes.
—Bryan Hood, Robb Report, 5 Nov. 2025
Michael Bloom, CNBC, 4 Nov. 2025
That begs the question of whether the Rockets need to upgrade at point guard, given their championship expectations.
—Ricardo Sandoval, MSNBC Newsweek, 4 Nov. 2025
See All Example Sentences for upgrade
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
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Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
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Noun
This manual process is incredibly slow; a past upgrade at JET, for instance, required engineers to handle 7,000 assemblies over 17 months.
—Aman Tripathi, Interesting Engineering, 5 Nov. 2025
Rounding out the mechanical upgrades is a revised braking system, which should come in handy on particularly treacherous routes.
—Bryan Hood, Robb Report, 5 Nov. 2025
Verb
Jefferies upgrades Red Rock Resorts to buy from hold Jefferies said the casino company is too attractive to ignore.
—Michael Bloom, CNBC, 4 Nov. 2025
That begs the question of whether the Rockets need to upgrade at point guard, given their championship expectations.
—Ricardo Sandoval, MSNBC Newsweek, 4 Nov. 2025
See All Example Sentences for upgrade
Cite this Entry
“Upgrade.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/upgrade. Accessed 7 Nov. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
upgrade
1 of 2 noun
up·grade
ˈəp-ˌgrād 
1
: an upward grade or slope
2
: rise entry 2 sense 4
crime has been on the upgrade
1
: to raise to a higher grade or position
2
: to improve or replace especially software or a device for increased usefulness
Medical Definition
upgrade
transitive verb
up·grade
ˈəp-ˌgrād, ˌəp-ˈ
upgraded; upgrading
1
: to assign a less serious status to
upgraded the patient's condition from fair to good
2
: to reclassify (as a cancer, concussion, or bone fracture) to a more serious grade when the grades are numbered from least to most serious
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