Upgrade
verbTo raise something to a higher standard, version, or level of quality.
How to spell upgrade
7 letters · 2 syllables
How to pronounce upgrade
Say the part in capitals loudest.
What does upgrade mean?
- verbTo raise something to a higher standard, version, or level of quality.
- nounAn improvement, or a newer and better version of something.
Upgrade in a sentence
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verb
The airline offered to upgrade her seat to business class.
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noun
The software upgrade fixed several bugs and added new features.
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verb
They plan to upgrade the office computers next month.
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noun
A memory upgrade made the laptop noticeably faster.
Where does upgrade come from?
Language of origin: Latin
The second half of this word descends from the Latin gradus, which literally meant a step, pace, or rung, and by extension a degree or rank in a sequence. That sense of a measured step survives in English words like 'grade', 'gradual', and 'gradient'. The native English particle 'up' was joined to it to form 'upgrade', a compound that first appeared in American usage during the nineteenth century, originally describing a rising slope of land or railway track. From that physical sense of an upward incline it shifted in the twentieth century to mean raising something to a higher standard, class, or level, especially with the rise of technology and travel. Because the parts are transparent and there are no doubled letters or silent traps, the spelling stays close to its plain components.
How the word is built
- up- (upward, to a higher level)
- grade (from Latin gradus: a step or degree)
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