upscale

U1P3S1C3A1L1E1
/ˈʌpskeɪl/

adjective

Expensive and designed to appeal to affluent consumers.

Opposite
Less commonScrabble 11Word of the Day · Aug 4, 2022

Meanings

adjectiveupscale (comparative more upscale, superlative most upscale)

comparative more upscale · superlative most upscale

  1. USExpensive and designed to appeal to affluent consumers.

    For example, a good location for resale, such as an upscale suburb of new homes, will cost more money than a piece of land in an established neighborhood of small, postwar houses.

    1998, Sarah Susanka, Kira Obolensky, The not so so big house: a blueprint for the way we really live, Taunton Press, →ISBN, page 147
    1 more example

    In Rio de Janeiro, thousands protested in a gritty area far from the city’s upscale seaside districts. In other cities, demonstrators blocked roads, barged into City Council meetings or interrupted sessions of local lawmakers, clapping loudly and sometimes taking over the microphone.

    2013 June 18, Simon Romero, “Protests Widen as Brazilians Chide Leaders”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 13 Mar 2019, retrieved 21 Jun 2013

    Synonyms: upmarket, high-class · Antonyms: downscale

verbupscale (third-person singular simple present upscales, present participle upscaling, simple past and past participle upscaled)

present singular third person upscales · participle present upscaling · participle past upscaled · past upscaled

Synonyms & antonyms

adjectiveExpensive and designed to appeal to affluent consumers.

Opposite

More synonyms by meaning

adjectiveappropriate for people with good incomes

Similar

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

From up + scale, 1966 (adjective), 1963 (verb).

Full word history & related roots →

Rhymes & wordplay

Anagrams

Cite this entry
APA

upscale. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/upscale

MLA

“upscale.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/upscale. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “upscale,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/upscale.

Source: upscale on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.