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
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
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
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of upending
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
Both movies were directed by YouTube stars and cost nearly nothing to produce, upending conventional wisdom about the necessary components for a hit.
—Rebecca Rubin, Variety, 31 May 2026
This show works to understand how those two minds—both devoted to upending the art market by making work that’s not easily categorizable—entertain certain themes simultaneously.
—Zoë Hopkins, New Yorker, 29 May 2026
An early morning Penn Station fire injured multiple people and snarled morning service between Newark and New York, upending commuter travel.
—Amethyst Martinez, USA Today, 29 May 2026
Scenes in the rounded Tomorrowland theater will be updated, upending folky stories set in the early 1900s, the 1920s and the 1940s.
—Dewayne Bevil, The Orlando Sentinel, 28 May 2026
Meanwhile, Airbnb, another early breakout hit from Y Combinator, has a market cap of close to $80 billion, and CEO Brian Chesky is credited with upending the hospitality industry.
—Jonathan Vanian, CNBC, 26 May 2026
An experimental pill has shown unprecedented success in treating pancreatic cancer, upending conventional wisdom about the disease.
—Carolyn Y. Johnson, Washington Post, 24 May 2026
The mathematics of flat space is astonishingly versatile, and new research is upending the traditional thinking about the layout of our cosmos.
—Manon Bischoff, Scientific American, 23 May 2026
Prashant Rao, semafor.com, 2 June 2026
Both movies were directed by YouTube stars and cost nearly nothing to produce, upending conventional wisdom about the necessary components for a hit.
—Rebecca Rubin, Variety, 31 May 2026
This show works to understand how those two minds—both devoted to upending the art market by making work that’s not easily categorizable—entertain certain themes simultaneously.
—Zoë Hopkins, New Yorker, 29 May 2026
An early morning Penn Station fire injured multiple people and snarled morning service between Newark and New York, upending commuter travel.
—Amethyst Martinez, USA Today, 29 May 2026
Scenes in the rounded Tomorrowland theater will be updated, upending folky stories set in the early 1900s, the 1920s and the 1940s.
—Dewayne Bevil, The Orlando Sentinel, 28 May 2026
Meanwhile, Airbnb, another early breakout hit from Y Combinator, has a market cap of close to $80 billion, and CEO Brian Chesky is credited with upending the hospitality industry.
—Jonathan Vanian, CNBC, 26 May 2026
An experimental pill has shown unprecedented success in treating pancreatic cancer, upending conventional wisdom about the disease.
—Carolyn Y. Johnson, Washington Post, 24 May 2026
The mathematics of flat space is astonishingly versatile, and new research is upending the traditional thinking about the layout of our cosmos.
—Manon Bischoff, Scientific American, 23 May 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for upending
Verb
-
After defeating fellow American Kyle Daukaus, fighter Bo Nickal praised the president.—
Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy,
USA Today,
15 June 2026
-
Cardenas is currently running for re-election to the Board of Review, and won the Democratic primary in March, defeating former Friends of the Parks executive director Juanita Irizarry.—
Todd Feurer,
CBS News,
15 June 2026
Verb
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Peggy takes it upon herself to bring the neighborhood together by erecting a lending library in her front yard.—
Adrienne Matei,
The Atlantic,
13 Aug. 2025
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Amazon considered erecting data centers that could accommodate widespread liquid cooling to make the most of these power-hungry Nvidia GPUs.—
Jordan Novet,
CNBC,
9 July 2025
Verb
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That program is based on the notion that housing should be a prerequisite for people dealing with addictions or mental illness, not a reward for overcoming them.—
Jim Morrill,
Charlotte Observer,
11 Dec. 2025
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That means overcoming Ella’s hostility and bridging the divide with her uncommunicative kid brother Casey (Spike Fearn), an MIT graduate who has become an agoraphobic shut-in since his breakup with beloved girlfriend Susan (Ayo Edebiri).—
David Rooney,
HollywoodReporter,
10 Dec. 2025
Verb
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Those insights are raising important questions about how these tools should be used and where their limitations lie.—
Katia Hetter,
CNN Money,
11 June 2026
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Could the depletion prompt a market panic, raising prices even higher?—
Cody Cottier,
Scientific American,
11 June 2026
Verb
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One of them is to raise the proportion of students mastering Math I – usually taken the freshman year of high school but also taken by some middle schoolers and older high school students.—
Rebecca Noel,
Charlotte Observer,
10 June 2026
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Nothing in tennis may be more difficult, because mastering it involves solving one of the great riddles of the sport.—
Matthew Futterman,
New York Times,
6 June 2026
Verb
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Apparently, the only thing stopping him from scoring a fourth is Argentina's taking him off the pitch.—
NBC News,
NBC news,
17 June 2026
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On Monday, 60 Tao people from Taiwan’s Orchid Island set off on a 111-mile voyage, taking turns to paddle against strong currents to reach the Ivatan people on Batan Island, located in the far north of the Philippines, replicating a journey first thought to have been made more than 4,000 years ago.—
Wayne Chang,
CNN Money,
17 June 2026
Verb
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Kane looked laboured and lost at Euro 2024 but England should be getting the best version of him in the coming weeks, which gives them a chance of beating any opponent.—
Jack Pitt-Brooke,
New York Times,
16 June 2026
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Renard led the team in the 2022 World Cup, famously beating Argentina 2-1 in the group stage.—
Andrew Greif,
NBC news,
16 June 2026
Verb
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After dispatching Montreal in five games to make the final, the Hurricanes then faced perennial power Vegas and took care of business there, too.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
14 June 2026
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Some commentators’ dark horses for the tournament, Norway qualified from Europe with a perfect record, pillaging goals at will, while mercilessly dispatching opponents.—
Jonathan Thompson,
Travel + Leisure,
10 June 2026
Cite this Entry
“Upending.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/upending. Accessed 17 Jun. 2026.
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