uptick

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noun up·tick \ ˈəp-ˌtik \

Updated on: 26 Jul 2017

Definition of uptick

:increase, rise

an uptick in sales

an uptick in hiring

See uptick defined for English-language learners

Examples of uptick in a Sentence

an uptick in sales over the last fiscal year

Recent Examples of uptick from the Web

Following a busy summer construction season, both Arlington Heights District 25 schools debuted new building additions to try to meet an uptick in student enrollment.

— karen ann cullotta, chicagotribune.com, "Arlington Heights students start new year at expanded Thomas, Windsor schools," 29 Aug. 2017
State data shows that four-year graduation rates in Prince George’s improved from 74.1 percent for the class of 2013 to 81.4 percent for the class of 2016, the largest uptick for that time period of any school system in the state.

— donna st. george, Washington Post, "Firm hired to probe graduation rates in Prince George’s County schools," 29 Aug. 2017
Still, in less than 20 years, the prison population in Alabama shifted from majority African-American to more than 70 percent white - a change driven by a sharp uptick in overall incarceration.

— amy yurkanin, AL.com, "Poor, rural and addicted: Drugs drive surge in white women in prison," 24 Aug. 2017
Auto thefts declined by almost half, going from 38 to 20, while the slight uptick happened with incidents of theft, going from 140 last year to 145 this year.

— elizabeth marie himchak, Rancho Bernardo, "Rancho Bernardo crime trends show improvement," 17 Aug. 2017
The question of whether there’s an uptick in relation to the publishing industry and who has access to being published …

— steve wieberg, kansascity, "Immigrant is imprisoned, her son taken: Fictional ‘Leavers’ is based on woeful fact," 4 Aug. 2017
But the official numbers also reveal a sharp uptick in civilian deaths: Of the 603 victims killed since the operation began in 2014, 40 percent have come during the first four months of Trump’s presidency.

— benjamin hart, Daily Intelligencer, "Report: U.S. Air Strikes Killing Far More Civilians Under Trump," 17 July 2017
Yet, beyond a brief uptick in GDP, all this has hardly helped the economy.

— The Economist, "The British economy if the country crashes out of the European Union," 13 July 2017
Fischer has stood by Conrad publicly, saying no one person can be blamed for Louisville's uptick in violent crime or expected to solve it alone.

— phillip m. bailey, The Courier-Journal, "Louisville Metro Council goes forward with no-confidence vote in police Chief Steve Conrad," 6 July 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'uptick.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Origin and Etymology of uptick

²up + ¹tick

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: 1955

See Words from the same year

uptick Synonyms

Near Antonyms

deduction, subtraction

Financial Definition of UPTICK

uptick

noun

What It Is

Uptick refers to the increase in the market price of a security over the preceding transaction.

How It Works

If a new trading price for a security is higher than the preceding one (even by one cent), the security is on an uptick. For example, stock XYZ is trading for $10.00 per share. If the next time stock XYZ is traded it sells for $10.01, it has had an uptick.

An uptick is also sometimes called a plus tick.

Why It Matters

Upticks are most important when it comes to short-selling stocks. The "uptick rule," which was in place from 1938-2007, required every short-sale transaction be entered on an uptick. This rule was instated to keep short sellers from putting unjust pressure on a stock's price, adding to a security's downward spiral.

Source: Investing Answers