Uplift

How to spell uplift

6 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce uplift

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does uplift mean?

1. verbTo raise something to a higher position, or to improve someone's spirits, morale, or condition.
2. nounAn act of raising, or a boost to mood, morale, or circumstances.

Uplift in a sentence

• verb

  The new crane can uplift several tonnes of steel in one go.

• noun

  The kind message gave her a real uplift during a difficult week.

• verb

  The volunteers worked hard to uplift the mood of the whole ward.

• noun

  Geologists studied the slow uplift of the mountain range over millions of years.

Where does uplift come from?

Language of origin: Old Norse

Uplift is a transparent compound of the everyday adverb 'up' and the verb 'lift', and both halves are old. 'Up' is a native Old English word descended from Germanic roots meaning the upward direction, while 'lift' came into English from Old Norse 'lypta', meaning to raise into the air, brought by Norse settlers and related to the very word 'loft'. The combined form 'uplift' began appearing in late Middle English around the 1300s, first in the plain physical sense of raising something to a higher position. By the 1800s it had grown a strong figurative life, describing the raising of a person's spirits, morals, or social condition. Because the word is simply two familiar pieces joined together, its spelling holds no real surprises beyond remembering that it stays one solid word with a single 'l'.

How the word is built

• up- (upward)
• lift (to raise, from Old Norse lypta)