uppercase

1 of 4

adjective

up·​per·​case ˌə-pər-ˈkās How to pronounce uppercase (audio)

uppercase

2 of 4

noun (1)

: capital letters

uppercase

3 of 4

verb

uppercased; uppercasing

transitive verb

: to print or set in capital letters

upper case

4 of 4

noun (2)

: a type case containing capitals and usually small capitals, fractions, symbols, and accents

Examples of uppercase in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
Adjective
Historically, users were required to create passwords with a mix of uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers, and special characters. Lars Daniel, Forbes, 2 Oct. 2024 There is almost universal support for an — uppercase — Town Center as essential to serve a community that will one day have 3,000 or more veterans living on site in temporary and permanent housing and potentially thousands more visiting regularly from around Southern California. Doug Smith, Los Angeles Times, 24 Sep. 2024
Noun
Architects do something similar because uppercase is easy to read. Benj Edwards, Ars Technica, 12 Sep. 2024 The image looks as if Sanchez is shouting over loud club music to tell her then-boyfriend something, which is why people who used the meme format typed in all uppercase letters. Kalhan Rosenblatt, NBC News, 23 Dec. 2022
Verb
Make sure your employees’ passwords follow best security practices, such as containing 10 characters or more, uppercase and lowercase letters and at least one number and special character. Akram Atallah, Forbes, 25 Mar. 2022
Noun
These are all upper case below. Razib Khan, Discover Magazine, 25 Apr. 2011 The script does have a string to upper case function, but that’s only for the output. Razib Khan, Discover Magazine, 14 Mar. 2011 See all Example Sentences for uppercase 

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'uppercase.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

Adjective

from the compositor's practice of keeping capital letters in the upper of a pair of type cases

First Known Use

Adjective

1738, in the meaning defined above

Noun (1)

circa 1916, in the meaning defined above

Verb

1949, in the meaning defined above

Noun (2)

1683, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of uppercase was in 1683

Dictionary Entries Near uppercase

Cite this Entry

“Uppercase.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/uppercase. Accessed 9 Oct. 2024.

Kids Definition

uppercase

adjective
up·​per·​case
ˌəp-ər-ˈkās
uppercase noun

More from Merriam-Webster on uppercase

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
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