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
• knocking for a loop
• topping
• routing
• subjugating
• transcending
• thrashing
• vanquishing
• excelling
• 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

Taken together, Wall Street research doesn’t describe a technology upending the old order. — Nick Lichtenberg, Fortune, 8 Sep. 2026

Drinkwitz has been pressing for the Protect College Sports Act, a bill in the Senate that would give the NCAA some protection against the sort of lawsuits that are upending college athletics. — ABC News, 2 Sep. 2026

The Florida Supreme Court sided with Jones and Crump, upending a decades long practice that had effectively granted companies civil immunity in workers’ compensation cases. — Ryan Young, CNN Money, 30 Aug. 2026

Santana evangelizes for the protocol by upending the equation. — Mark Ellwood, Robb Report, 9 Aug. 2026

Wall Street analysts nevertheless remain overwhelmingly bullish given Musk’s track record of upending mature industries. — Bloomberg, Mercury News, 5 Aug. 2026

Sculptures whimsically assembled from chairs, lamps, and a filing cabinet pulled from Cultural Center storage get roped off by floor tape that cleverly extends the artworks themselves, upending standard museum practice while also sticking to it. — Lori Waxman, Chicago Tribune, 5 Aug. 2026

The alleged hundreds of millions of dollars in missing money is upending Cuttell’s life, Amro says. — Frank Landymore, Futurism, 5 Aug. 2026

But that was before the data center boom came to Georgia, upending development norms. — Zachary Hansen, AJC.com, 28 July 2026