Synonyms of upending

upending

verb

present participle of upend

1

as in defeating

to achieve a victory over

the team won the division play-offs, but was upended in the final championship game

Synonyms & Similar Words

• defeating
• overcoming
• mastering
• taking
• beating
• dispatching
• conquering
• getting
• stopping
• subduing
• surmounting
• succeeding
• besting
• licking
• trimming
• overmatching
• prevailing (over)
• winning (against)
• triumphing (over)
• overbearing
• worsting
• sweeping
• burying
• getting the better of
• getting around
• crushing
• doing down
• finishing
• upsetting
• slaughtering
• surpassing
• skunking
• annihilating
• flattening
• exceeding
• clobbering
• scoring
• overwhelming
• capping
• whipping
• overthrowing
• breaking
• trouncing
• topping
• knocking for a loop
• routing
• subjugating
• transcending
• thrashing
• excelling
• vanquishing
• bombing
• flourishing
• unseating
• walloping
• creaming
• blowing out
• eclipsing
• edging (out)
• drubbing
• outdoing
• shellacking
• outstripping
• blowing away
• skinning
• nosing out
• outshining
• overpowering
• bettering
• outdistancing
• pipping
• smoking
• waxing
• knocking over
• outfighting
• overtopping
• knocking off
• snowing under
• acing (out)

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• losing (to)
• falling
• going down
• failing
• giving up
• collapsing
• folding
• going under
• flopping
• washing out
• flunking

2

as in erecting

to fix in an upright position

we had to upend the sofa in order to fit it into the elevator

Synonyms & Similar Words

• erecting
• raising
• lifting
• rearing
• hoisting
• pitching
• elevating
• setting up
• bracing
• upholding
• supporting
• putting up
• upraising
• buttressing
• upping
• heightening
• uplifting
• craning
• propping (up)
• hiking
• boosting
• shoring (up)
• heaving
• hefting
• jacking (up)
• picking up
• perking (up)

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• flattening
• leveling
• demolishing
• tearing down
• razing
• knocking down

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of upending

Moreover, Iran alienated several of its neighbors in the Gulf by launching retaliatory attacks against them and upending regional trade through the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz. — Miranda Jeyaretnam, Time, 3 July 2026

Investors’ fears of Anthropic’s Mythos model, which was launched in April, upending all cybersecurity software businesses, have since subsided. — Kirk Ogunrinde, Forbes.com, 2 July 2026

Forces — some visible, some harder to see — are upending literature and education itself. — Los Angeles Times, 1 July 2026

Iran attacked a cargo ship traveling through the Strait of Hormuz on Thursday, possibly upending President Donald Trump‘s diplomatic end to the war with Iran. — Christian Datoc, The Washington Examiner, 25 June 2026

The mayor's goal was to make things easier for the city's immigrant delivery workforce by upending a policy that had been put in pace by NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch. — Marcia Kramer, CBS News, 25 June 2026

Baseball has a way of upending logical assumptions. — Tyler Kepner, New York Times, 24 June 2026

In the first movie, Woody has to overcome his fear that Buzz will replace him (a sly metacommentary by a studio that was itself upending the animation industry). — Jacob Stern, The Atlantic, 17 June 2026

Russia suspended jet fuel exports, further upending trade in a product already hugely affected by the Iran war. — Prashant Rao, semafor.com, 2 June 2026