Library / English Dictionary

UPLIFT

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

A brassiere that lifts and supports the breasts

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("uplift" is a kind of...):

bandeau; bra; brassiere (an undergarment worn by women to support their breasts)

Derivation:

uplift (lift up or elevate)

Sense 2

Meaning:

(geology) a rise of land to a higher elevation (as in the process of mountain building)

Synonyms:

upheaval; uplift; upthrow; upthrust

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural events

Hypernyms ("uplift" is a kind of...):

ascension; ascent; rise; rising (a movement upward)

Domain category:

geology (a science that deals with the history of the earth as recorded in rocks)

Derivation:

uplift (lift up from the earth, as by geologic forces)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Fill with high spirits; fill with optimism

Example:

Music can uplift your spirits

Synonyms:

elate; intoxicate; lift up; pick up; uplift

Classified under:

Verbs of feeling

Hypernyms (to "uplift" is one way to...):

excite; shake; shake up; stimulate; stir (stir the feelings, emotions, or peace of)

Cause:

joy; rejoice (feel happiness or joy)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "uplift"):

beatify (make blessedly happy)

puff (make proud or conceited)

beatify; exalt; exhilarate; inebriate; thrill; tickle pink (fill with sublime emotion)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody

Sentence examples:

The good news will uplift her

The performance is likely to uplift Sue

Sense 2

Meaning:

Lift up or elevate

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Hypernyms (to "uplift" is one way to...):

push up (push upward)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s something

Derivation:

uplift (a brassiere that lifts and supports the breasts)

uplifting (the rise of something)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Lift up from the earth, as by geologic forces

Example:

the earth's movement uplifted this part of town

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Hypernyms (to "uplift" is one way to...):

arise; come up; go up; lift; move up; rise; uprise (move upward)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

Derivation:

uplift ((geology) a rise of land to a higher elevation (as in the process of mountain building))

Credits

 Context examples: 

The survey exceeded all expectations and imaged the depression in stunning detail: a distinctly circular rim, central uplift, disturbed and undisturbed ice layering, and basal debris.

(Unexpected Discovery Under Greenland Ice, NASA)

On one side of him sat old Johnston, who was busy in trimming the feathers of some arrows to his liking; and on the other Hordle John, who lay with his great limbs all asprawl, and his headpiece balanced upon his uplifted foot.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The jungle and the wilderness lurked in the uplift and downput of his feet.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

But whether the sorrow was too vast to be embodied in music, or music too ethereal to uplift a mortal woe, he soon discovered that the Requiem was beyond him just at present.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

They rode on their wheels much in the delightful fall weather, and out in the hills they read poetry aloud, now one and now the other, noble, uplifting poetry that turned one's thoughts to higher things.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

One foot was descending into the opening, while the other foot was just on the verge of beginning the uplift.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

Meg had an extra row of little curlpapers across her forehead, Jo had copiously anointed her afflicted face with cold cream, Beth had taken Joanna to bed with her to atone for the approaching separation, and Amy had capped the climax by putting a clothespin on her nose to uplift the offending feature.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

“Do you know, I am filled with a strange uplift; I feel as if all time were echoing through me, as though all powers were mine. I know truth, divine good from evil, right from wrong. My vision is clear and far. I could almost believe in God. But,” and his voice changed and the light went out of his face,—“what is this condition in which I find myself? this joy of living? this exultation of life? this inspiration, I may well call it? It is what comes when there is nothing wrong with one’s digestion, when his stomach is in trim and his appetite has an edge, and all goes well. It is the bribe for living, the champagne of the blood, the effervescence of the ferment—that makes some men think holy thoughts, and other men to see God or to create him when they cannot see him.”

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)