upset
Noun pluralupsets
Pluralupsets
- 1Feeling angry, distressed, or unhappy about something.
He felt deeply upset by the unkind remarks.
Many parents were upset about the sudden change in schedule.
UsageUpset about or by something, upset with a person, and upset for someone when you feel bad on their behalf.
Similardistressed, unhappy, hurt, troubled, disturbed
- 2
- 3UP-set/ˈʌpsɛt/A win by a competitor or candidate who was not favored to win.
The election produced a stunning upset when the underdog took the seat.
Sports history is full of upsets that nobody saw coming.
UsageCommon phrases: pull off an upset, a major upset, the biggest upset of the season or year.
Note
Sports and politics share this noun for the favorite's fall. Big upsets are often ranked against earlier ones: Paul Fletcher at the BBC set Stevenage's 2011 win over Newcastle beside Hereford's in 1972. Told with a verb, the same story uses the 'defeat unexpectedly' verb: Truman upset Dewey.
- 4To disturb, disrupt, or change something for the worse.
A sudden policy shift can upset carefully laid plans.
The new findings upset long-held assumptions in the field.
UsageOften with balance, plans or routine: upset the balance of something. Set phrase: upset the apple cart, to spoil a plan.
- 5To defeat an opponent unexpectedly, especially one favored to win.
Drivers who upset the series leaders earn instant recognition.
The challenger upset the reigning champion in a tight final.
- 6UP-set/ˈʌpsɛt/A disturbance of the stomach that causes discomfort or nausea.
The unfamiliar spices left him with a nasty stomach upset.
Travelers often suffer a mild upset from unfamiliar water.
UsageUsually a stomach upset or a tummy upset, the noun form of an upset stomach.
Similarindigestion, queasiness
- 7The state of feeling unhappy, worried, or emotionally distressed, or an event or situation that causes someone to feel that way.
The hospital apologized for the upset its billing error had caused the family.
Children often go through small upsets when a new baby arrives at home.
UsageOften after cause: cause someone upset, cause a lot of upset.
Similardistress, trouble, worry, shock
Oppositecalm, contentment
Less common meanings
- 8Describing a stomach that feels sick or uncomfortable, sometimes as if about to vomit.
His stomach was upset for hours after the boat ride.
An upset stomach kept her home from school.
UsageUsed with stomach or tummy: an upset stomach, my stomach is upset.
Similarunsettled, queasy, sick, nauseous
Oppositesettled
- 9To tip or knock something over.
A careless elbow can upset a full glass in an instant.
The rough waves upset the small canoe.
UsageMost often with glasses, buckets and small boats; in everyday speech knock over or tip over is more usual.
Note
Arguments can be tipped over too. W. D. Ross's translation of Aristotle's Metaphysics calls an argument used by Anaxagoras and Eudoxus very easily upset. It is knocked over like a vessel, which is to say refuted. Upset a glass, upset a canoe, upset an argument: in each case the object loses its footing, and the figurative uses keep that physical picture.
Checked 6 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
- Aristotle's Metaphysics was translated by W. D. Ross. classics.mit.edu
- Ross's translation describes an argument used by Anaxagoras and Eudoxus as very easily upset. classics.mit.edu
- 10UP-set/ˈʌpsɛt/Disturbance or disruption of a normal or settled state.
A two-day power cut caused considerable upset to production at the plant, and several orders shipped a week late.
The roadworks caused weeks of upset to traffic in the town center.
Similardisruption, disturbance, turmoil, upheaval
- 11UP-set/ˈʌpsɛt/An overturning of a vehicle, as when a car or wagon rolls onto its side.
Coach travel was risky in those days, and an upset on a steep, rutted road could easily break a passenger's arm.
The driver took the bend too fast, and in the upset that followed, the carriage ended up on its side in the ditch.
UsageEveryday speech usually says a car overturned or rolled over; the noun lives on in insurance's collision and upset.
Similarrollover, overturning
Note
Insurance keeps the word in a fixed pair, collision and upset. The first means impact with another object. The second means the vehicle going over for whatever reason, with or without a crash. The noun is the policy's term, the counterpart of the 'tip over' verb.
- 12To set up or raise something into an upright position.
Note
The meaning the parts spell out: up plus set, to set something up. It goes back to Middle English upsetten, and to a noun meaning "the act of setting up; establishment". R. of Brunne writes of a sail on mast upset, meaning raised, not capsized. The sense is obsolete, so in medieval verse like his read it as raising, the reverse of today's overturning.
- 13A dangerous situation in which an aircraft's flight attitude or airspeed falls outside the normally intended limits, risking loss of control.
- 14To thicken and shorten a piece of heated metal, such as a bar or a wheel's tire, by hammering on its end.
- 15In order theory, a subset of a partially ordered set with the property that whenever it contains an element, it also contains every element greater than or equal to that one.
- 16A woven row that supports the foundation rods holding the uprights of a basket.
- 17To support a basket's uprights with a woven foundation row.
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Origin
Middle English had upset ('the act of setting up; establishment'), which came from upsetten, a combination of up- and set. Middle Low German upset ('setup; arrangement') is a related word.