/ˌʌpˈsɛt/
OriginFrom Middle English upset (“the act of setting up; establishment”), from Middle English upsetten, corresponding to up- + set. Cognate with Middle Low German upset (“setup; arrangement”).
- predicativeAngry, distressed, or unhappy
“He was upset when she refused his friendship.”
“My children often get upset with their classmates.”
“We were shocked when we asked a disruptive man in the front row to move to the back, and when he subsequently left, the producer's helpers were so upset for him they gave him two free tickets to the n”
- Feeling unwell, nauseated, or ready to vomit.
“His stomach was upset, so he didn't want to move.”
“Bryan came home from school with an upset tummy.”
- uncountableDisturbance or disruption.
“My late arrival caused the professor considerable upset.”
- countableAn unexpected victory of a competitor or candidate that was not favored to win.
“But it is probably the biggest upset for the away side since Ronnie Radford smashed a famous goal as Hereford defeated Newcastle 2-1 in 1972.”
“Sanders’s win in Michigan was one of the greatest upsets in modern political history.”
- countable, uncountableAn overturn.
“"collision and upset": impact with another object or an overturn for whatever reason.”
- countable, uncountableAn upset stomach.
““Bob, let's cancel the baby sitter. With this upset stomach, I can't go out tonight.”
“Sure you can, Liz! Try Pepto-Bismol. Hospital tests prove it relieves upsets. And it's great for indigestion or n”
- countable, uncountableAn upper set; a subset (X,≤) of a partially ordered set with the property that, if x is in U and x≤y, then y is in U.
- countable, uncountableThe dangerous situation where the flight attitude or airspeed of an aircraft is outside the designed bounds of operation, possibly resulting in loss of control.
“The Board determines that the probable cause of this accident was the unfavorable interaction of severe vertical air drafts and large longitudinal control displacements resulting in a longitudinal ups”
- countable, uncountableA woven row supporting the foundation rods for the uprights of a basket.
“Willow basket making, an artisan inserting bye-stakes in the upsets.”
- transitiveTo make (a person) angry, distressed, or unhappy.
“I’m sure the bad news will upset him, but he needs to know.”
- transitiveTo disturb, disrupt or adversely alter (something).
“Introducing a foreign species can upset the ecological balance.”
“The fatty meat upset his stomach.”
- transitiveTo tip or overturn (something).
“1924, W. D. Ross translator, Aristitle, Metaphysics, Book 1, Part 9, The Classical Library, Nashotah, Wisconsin, 2001.
But this argument, which first Anaxagoras and later Eudoxus and certain others us”
- transitiveTo defeat unexpectedly.
“Truman upset Dewey in the 1948 US presidential election.”
- intransitiveTo be upset or knocked over.
“The carriage upset when the horse bolted.”
“[T]he locomotive exploded and upset, and was completely wrecked.”
- obsoleteTo set up; to put upright.
“R. of Brunne
with sail on mast upset”
- To thicken and shorten a soft or heated piece of metal, by forging or hammering on the end, to shape, for example, rivets or internal combustion engine valves.
- To shorten (a tire) in the process of resetting, originally by cutting it and hammering on the ends.
- transitiveTo support with an upset (type of woven row).
“Very coarse work is sided up without an upsett, or is upsetted with a pair instead of a wale.”
Formsmore upset(comparative) · most upset(superlative) · upsets(plural) · upsets(present, singular, third-person) · upsetting(participle, present) · upset(participle, past) · upset(past)