upgrade

Pluralupgrades

Formsupgrades, upgrading, upgraded

Formsfurther upgrade, farther upgrade, furthest upgrade, farthest upgrade

1. 1
   nouncountable

   An improved component, version, or piece of equipment brought in to supersede what was there before, typically in technology.

   The studio installed an upgrade to its sound system before the tour.

   Customers who pre-ordered received a free hardware upgrade.

   Similarimprovement, enhancement, update

   Oppositedowngrade

2. 2
   verbtransitive

   To improve something, usually a piece of technology, by completely replacing one or more of its components.

   The company upgraded its network by replacing every router.

   We plan to upgrade the lab equipment next quarter.

   Similarimprove, update, modernize, enhance, overhaul

   Oppositedowngrade

3. 3
   verbtransitive

   To replace something with a better version or alternative.

   She upgraded her economy seat to business class.

   Frequent travelers can upgrade their rooms for a small fee.

   Oppositedowngrade

4. 4
   nouncountable

   A betterment in quality, level, or condition; an improvement.

   Moving to the corner office felt like an upgrade.

   The renovation was a clear upgrade over the building's original layout.

   Similarimprovement, advance, enhancement

   Oppositedowngrade

5. 5
   verbtransitive or intransitive

   To replace a program with a later version of itself: one with a higher version number or a more recent product name.

   Most users upgraded the operating system within a week of release.

   The software can upgrade in the background without interrupting your work.

   Similarupdate

   Oppositedowngrade

   Note

   In software, the program itself is replaced by its own successor. The verb works with or without an object: you upgrade Windows, or a system upgrades by itself. The fullest pattern names both ends, as in upgrade from Windows 10 to Windows 11, and a move to a renamed product still counts. Compare the hardware sense, where the improvement comes from swapping out components.

   It may be wise to wait before you upgrade from version 3 to version 4.

   Our office plans to upgrade from the old release to the current one next month.

6. 6
   verbintransitive

   To rise to a better condition, rank, or status.

   The neighborhood upgraded steadily as new businesses moved in.

   Players who win three rounds upgrade to the championship bracket.

   Similarimprove, advance, rise, progress

   Oppositedowngrade

7. 7
   verbtransitive

   To improve the equipment, furnishings, or services provided to a place or its customers.

   The airline upgraded its lounges with better seating and faster wifi.

   Management decided to upgrade the gym with new machines.

   Similarimprove, refurbish, renovate, modernize, revamp

   Oppositedowngrade

   Note

   Here the thing improved is often the customer rather than an object. Airlines and builders upgrade people. The usual shape is upgrade someone to something, and it passes easily into the passive: they were upgraded to first class. Contrast the intransitive rise in status, where the subject makes the move unaided, as in she upgraded to a more successful husband.

8. 8
   nouncountable

   A stretch of road or track that slopes upward.

   The train lost speed on the upgrade leading to the pass.

   A long upgrade tested the engine's power.

   Similarincline, ascent, rise, climb

   Oppositedowngrade

   Note

   The literal ground the other meanings stand on: up- joined to grade in its sense of a slope. Road and rail are its home, and it works as a modifier too, as in the Journal of the Outdoor Life's 1931 "night of upgrade chugging". Its opposite is downgrade, and that pairing carried over intact when both words moved from track and road to quality and rank.

9. 9
   adverb

   In an upward direction along a slope or grade.

   The locomotive labored upgrade against the steep gradient.

   Water cannot flow upgrade without a pump.

   Similaruphill, upslope, upward

   Oppositedownhill, downslope

   Note

   The adverb usually rides behind a noun of effort and distance. Carl Sandburg's Prairie-town Boy (1955) has an eight-mile march upgrade, and the same pattern gives a 26-mile climb upgrade and an eight-mile pull upgrade. It can also follow a verb of motion directly, as in go upgrade. It does not take comparison, because a route is either climbing or it is not.

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