
upbeat | upbeat: adj. positive, optimistic, sanguine, favourable, cheerful, encouraging, heartening, buoyant, light-hearted: Christopher has a very upbeat attitude towards life despite his age.
upbraid | upbraid: v. scold, rebuke, reprimand, reproach, berate, castigate, chastise, reprove, chide, censure, take to task, Colloq tell off, tick off, dress down, give a dressing-down, give (someone) a piece of (one''s) mind, tell (someone) a thing or two, rake (someone) over the coals, jump on or all over, bawl out, US chew out: The boys were soundly upbraided for going near the railway tracks.
upbringing | upbringing: n. rearing, raising, training, education, cultivation, nurture, breeding: The way one behaves through life is really a matter of upbringing.
upheaval | upheaval: n. upset, unrest, commotion, change, cataclysm, disruption, disturbance, disorder, confusion, chaos, furore, or US furor: Those were times of drastic political upheaval in Asia.
uphold | uphold: v. support, maintain, sustain, preserve, hold up, defend, protect, advocate, promote, espouse, embrace, endorse, back, champion, stand by: All demagogues claim to uphold democratic principles.
upkeep | upkeep: n. 1 maintenance, repair, support, sustenance, preservation, conservation, subsistence, running, operation: The upkeep of the infrastructure came to ten per cent of the annual budget last year. 2 (operating) costs, (running) expenses, outlay, expenditure, Brit overheads, oncosts, US overhead: Have you included upkeep in the annual expenses?
upper | upper: adj. 1 higher (up), loftier, topmost, more elevated, uppermost: Air is less dense in the upper parts of the atmosphere. Our flat is on an upper floor. Her best notes are sung in the upper register. 2 higher, upland, more elevated; (more) northerly, northern: We visited the cataracts on the upper reaches of the Nile. We spent the holiday in upper Canada. 3 later, more recent: These strata were laid down in the Upper Cretaceous period. 4 upper case. capital letter(s), capital(s), majuscule (letters or characters): The heading ought to be in upper case. 5 upper crust. upper class, �lite, aristocrats, nobles, blue bloods, wealthy, US Four Hundred: Gregory thinks of himself as a member of the upper crust and won''t associate with us. 6 upper hand. advantage, control, authority, power, sway, superiority, supremacy, command, dominance, ascendancy, Colloq edge: Purvis kowtows to whoever has the upper hand. --n. 7 on (one''s) uppers. poor, indigent, destitute, poverty-stricken, Colloq broke: Stanley has been on his uppers since losing his job.
upper-class | upper-class: adj. 1 �lite, aristocratic, blue-blooded, well-born, noble, high-born, patrician, Colloq upper crust: Eunice comes from an upper-class Irish family. 2 high-class, elegant, fancy, luxurious, first-rate, de luxe, royal, regal, sumptuous, Colloq swank(y), ritzy, posh: I''ll have you know that we stayed only in upper-class hotels on our tour.
uppermost | uppermost: adj. 1 highest, topmost, loftiest, highest, top: These curious animals live in the uppermost branches of the trees. 2 foremost, first, most important or prominent or influential or telling, principal, paramount, pre-eminent, predominant: Uppermost in my mind is the safety of the children.
uppish | uppish: adj. affected, putting on airs, snobbish, conceited, overweening, self-important, Colloq uppity, snooty, high and mighty, hoity-toity, highfalutin or hifalutin, stuck-up, on (one''s) high horse, Slang snotty, Brit toffee-nosed: Even if she is in charge she doesn''t have to be so uppish.
upright | upright: adj. 1 erect, perpendicular, vertical, on end, straight up and down, plumb, stand-up, standing up, Brit upstanding: Few upright columns of the Greek temple remained. 2 moral, principled, high-minded, ethical, virtuous, upstanding, straight, righteous, straightforward, honourable, honest, just, trustworthy, unimpeachable, uncorrupt(ed), incorruptible, decent, good: David had long been an upright member of the church council. --n. 3 post, pole, column, vertical, perpendicular: We need another upright to support the floor over here. --adv. 4 perpendicularly, vertically, upward(s), straight up (and down): The javelin was sticking upright out of the ground. 5 right side up: Miraculously, the platter with the roast on it landed upright on the floor.
uprising | uprising: n. rebellion, revolt, mutiny, revolution, insurrection, rising, putsch, coup (d''�tat): The government quelled the uprising with water cannons and tear gas.
uproar | uproar: n. clamour, hubbub, disturbance, commotion, hullabaloo, brouhaha, din, racket, pandemonium, tumult, turmoil, pother, outcry, outburst, bedlam, agitation, frenzy, broil, rumpus, fuss; affray, fracas, brawl; Colloq hoo-ha, to-do, US hoop-la, Brit kerfuffle or carfuffle or kurfuffle: The announcement of the new taxes caused a nation-wide uproar.
uproarious | uproarious: adj. 1 clamorous, noisy, deafening, tumultuous, turbulent, tempestuous, excited, frenzied, rowdy, riotous, disorderly, wild: We had an uproarious party on New Year''s Eve. 2 hilarious, hysterical, (screamingly) funny, side-splitting, Colloq too funny for words, killing: Leslie told his uproarious story about Colonel Cholmondley and the tiger.
uproot | uproot: v. 1 transfer, transplant, move, displace; exile, banish: Finney has been uprooted five times in his career with the firm. 2 deracinate, extirpate, root out, dig out, pluck out, tear out; destroy, demolish, ruin, eradicate, annihilate, kill, ruin, devastate, ravage: Thousands of trees were uprooted by the hurricane.
upset | upset: v. 1 disturb, agitate, distress, unsettle, put off, put out, perturb, disquiet, fluster, ruffle, frighten, scare, disconcert, dismay, trouble, worry, bother, discompose, make (someone) nervous: We once had a nanny who told the children horror stories just to upset them. 2 overturn, capsize, topple, up-end, tip over, knock over or down, invert, turn topsy-turvy or upside down, spill: That is the third time this week you have upset the cream jug. 3 disturb, derange, disrupt, disarrange, mess up, disorganize, snarl up, jumble, muddle, Colloq Brit kerfuffle or carfuffle or kurfuffle: The boys upset the entire house with their horseplay. 4 overthrow, defeat, beat, worst, thrash, rout, conquer, overcome, win out over, get the better of, get or gain the advantage over, triumph over, be victorious over, vanquish: The question is whether the challenger will upset the champion in the Wimbledon finals. 5 defeat, ruin, spoil, thwart, interfere with, destroy, demolish, mess up, disturb, Colloq throw a Brit spanner in(to) or US monkey wrench into (the works), US discombobulate, Slang screw up, gum up, put the kibosh on, Taboo slang fuck up , Brit bugger up: Your coming early upset my plan to shampoo my hair. --adj. 6 capsized, overturned, upside down, bottom side up, inverted, reversed, toppled, tipped over, topsy-turvy: We clung to the bottom of the upset boat till help arrived. 7 sick, queasy: Eve has an upset stomach and cannot go. 8 perturbed, disturbed, disquieted, disconcerted, agitated, distressed, worried, troubled, unnerved, distracted, apprehensive, nervous, frightened, scared, afraid: We found Valdimir in a terribly upset state at Natasha''s disappearance. 9 disordered, confused, disorganized, messed-up, jumbled, muddled, disturbed, disarranged: The house is never so upset as after a party. 10 angry, irate, furious, beside oneself, mad, Colloq fit to be tied, Slang freaked out: Father was upset because I took the car without his permission. --n. 11 defeat, upsetting, conquest, overthrow, rout, thrashing, triumph, victory: We celebrated the upset of Queen''s Park Rangers by Manchester United. 12 surprise, unexpected event or occurrence: The upset of the season was when Carridoff won the Derby.
upshot | upshot: n. result, end (result), outcome, ending, conclusion, termination, effect, after-effect, fallout, wake, backwash, repercussion, after-clap, feedback, resolution, culmination, denouement or d�nouement, issue, Colloq pay-off, US wrap-up: The upshot of the nasty business was that Bowles was sent to prison for life.
upstart | upstart: n. parvenu(e), arriviste, nouveau riche, (social) climber, status-seeker, pretender, nobody: That upstart husband of Dora''s tried to get me to invest in some scheme of his.
uptake | uptake: n. comprehension, understanding, apprehension, grasp, perception, insight, perspicaciousness, perspicacity, perceptiveness, sensitivity: Billie was very quick on the uptake, and knew immediately what the man was after.
