uplift

present singular third person uplifts · participle present uplifting · participle past uplifted · past uplifted

1. To raise something or someone to a higher physical, social, moral, intellectual, spiritual, or emotional level.

   I thought I could uplift everyone, but... everything's gotten so bad. God, am I stupid for even trying?

   2026 June 19, Gooseworx, “Remember” (4:21 from the start), in The Amazing Digital Circus, episode 9, spoken by Pomni (Lizzie Freeman)

   3 more examples

   Whether you find it by your power as a man, or because, being near the gods, a god has whispered you. Uplift our State; think upon your fame; your coming brought us luck, be lucky to us still, remember that it is better to rule over men than over a waste place, since neither walled town nor ship is anything if it be empty and no man within it.

   1928, W[illiam] B[utler] Yeats, Sophocles’ King Oedipus: A Version of the Modern Stage, London: Macmillan and Co., […], →OCLC

   They recognised that their free-lay properties were just right for premises where there had to be easy access to underfloor cables or where office layouts needed to be readily changed without having to uplift the carpet every time.

   1986, The Architectural Review, volume 180, page 82

   At the behest of the London Midland Region, the infrastructure was built with a capability for running at up to 110mph with conventional rolling stock, as well as the raising of speed limits - such as the 60mph over Shap summit uplifted to 80mph.

   2020 April 8, David Clough, “How the West Coast wiring war was won”, in Rail, page 62

   Synonyms: dignify, elevate, enlighten, enrich, lift, advance, aggrandize, dignify

   1. literatureTo raise (a nonsentient species) into sentience.

      —genetically uplifted the ancestors of the saurs, and culturally—at least—uplifted the kraken. We are used to thinking of these species as wise and ancient, which indeed they are, but the octopods are their 'Elder Race.'

      2003, Ken MacLeod, Engine City, New York, N.Y.: Tor, →ISBN, page 79

      Synonyms: dignify, elevate, enlighten, enrich, lift, advance, aggrandize, dignify

2. lawTo aggravate; to increase.

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   A man who abused a Police Community Support Officer for being transgender has received an uplifted sentence at Mold Magistrates' Court... At Court the prosecutor applied for the sentence for the public order offence to be uplifted to reflect the hate crime aspect. This resulted in the Court imposing a greater penalty.

   2020 January 29, “Transphobic hate crime results in increased sentence for Mold teenager”, in Crown Prosecution Service, London: Crown Prosecution Service, retrieved 30 Jan 2020

   Synonyms: exacerbate, worsen, adulterate, aggravate, alloy, canker, contaminate, corrupt

3. aeronauticsTo be accepted for carriage on a flight.
4. New ZealandTo remove (a child) from a damaging home environment by a social welfare organization.

   In an affidavit supporting an application for a court order to uplift the child, a social worker said there were ongoing family violence issues between the baby's mother and father.

   2019 May 9, “Taken by the state: Don't take my baby”, in Stuff

5. AustraliatransitivelawTo remove (a document) from its current possessor and take it into one's own possession.
6. computingTo backport.
7. Northern EnglandTo pick up; take possession of.

   In a Post by Northumbria Police:Sharp eyes on patrol! One of our eagle-eyed officers spotted a vehicle driving erratically in Lemington. The driver made off on foot, leaving the car behind - which has now been uplifted for having no insurance.

   2025 December 31, Next Door Website

plural uplifts

1. countableuncountableThe act or result of uplifting (in various senses).

   The EMR Regional timetable improvements also include a significant uplift in Sunday services.

   2019 October, Tony Miles, Philip Sherratt, “EMR kicks off new era”, in Modern Railways, page 58

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   This means that while initial funding will come from the public purse, landowners along the route will eventually pay back a share of the uplift in land values created by the new line.

   2021 February 10, “Network News: Additional funds enable preparatory work for Ashington reopening”, in RAIL, number 924, page 8

2. countableuncountablegeographyA tectonic upheaval, especially one that takes place in the process of mountain building.

   Recent uplift of the Maine and Oregon coasts has not been enough to "undrown" the larger valleys; the shorelines are still submergent.

   1971, George Finiel Adams, Jerome Wyckoff, Landforms, page 143

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   This is explained as an uplift in the coast at a rate of 16.2 mm/y in the period before 1900, a downlift of 2.8 mm/y in the period 1900-1906 and a rapid «sinking» of the coast at 22.7 mm/y in the 24 months before the earthquake.

   1982, Earthquakes: Observation, Theory and Interpretation (Proceeding of the International School of Physics "Enrico Fermi"; course 85), North-Holland Publishing Company, page 517

3. countableuncountabletransportThe picking up and loading of goods to be transported by a mover.
4. colloquialcountableuncountableA brassiere that raises the breasts.

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   Dressed in a light silk brassiere and scanties, which was all she wore under her frock, she was unkind enough to say, "I think those uplift fakes of yours are a mistake, Sadie dear. They raise false expectations in the amorous male." "But my breasts are all right," said Sadie, hurt, and pushing her breasts up from under to prove they were in the right place[.]

   1950, Norman Lindsay, Dust or Polish?, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, page 15

5. countableuncountablelawAn increase in a fine or penalty due to aggravating circumstances.

   The CMA fined the companies involved £3.4 million, which included uplifts for director level involvement.

   2020, David Begg, Economics for Business, page 148