How to Use upheaval in a Sentence

upheaval

noun
  • The island was created by an upheaval of the ocean floor.
  • The lake was formed by geologic upheaval.
  • The civil rights movement marked a period of social upheaval in the U.S.
  • The show has also seen a bit of of behind-the-scenes upheaval as of late.
    Andy Swift, TVLine, 1 Nov. 2024
  • Plus, the work can often be a huge upheaval in and of itself.
    Tribune News Service, al, 7 June 2022
  • Her life was a mess, a loop of false starts, deferred plans and upheaval.
    Lizzie Presser, ProPublica, 29 Nov. 2022
  • The Yard Goats made it through the pandemic and the minor-league upheaval.
    Dom Amore, Hartford Courant, 17 Sep. 2022
  • If the trade war persists, the next upheaval will hit much closer to home.
    Bloomberg News, Boston Herald, 29 Apr. 2025
  • The shift comes at a time of upheaval for the luxury e-commerce space.
    Noor Lobad, WWD, 9 Sep. 2024
  • The closing comes at a time of mild upheaval in the Coconut Grove culinary scene.
    Connie Ogle, Miami Herald, 28 June 2025
  • And the war in Ukraine is a fresh reminder of Afghanistan’s long history of upheaval.
    New York Times, 18 Apr. 2022
  • And so all of these places of upheaval were sending people out, away.
    Chris Klimek, Smithsonian Magazine, 22 Feb. 2024
  • In both cases, the regime used brutal means to survive the upheaval.
    Matthew Continetti, National Review, 24 Sep. 2022
  • For many, this period of upheaval came with both pros and cons.
    Sally Percy, Forbes, 23 Mar. 2023
  • Despite the upheaval of the last two months, Nomar is clear on the purpose of college in his life.
    Anna North, Vox, 3 Apr. 2025
  • Times of upheaval can draw us towards the past, Dr. Abeyta says.
    Molly Longman, refinery29.com, 23 Feb. 2022
  • But off the court, there were a number of points of upheaval that risked the culture for which Snyder had worked so hard.
    Eric Walden, The Salt Lake Tribune, 10 June 2022
  • The fifth fair took place in 1967, a year of seismic cultural upheaval.
    Gillian Bagwell, Smithsonian Magazine, 28 Sep. 2023
  • If so, would such a network have been able to survive the upheaval of these final weeks?
    CBS News, 6 Oct. 2021
  • The sudden upheaval in Cadillac-think stems from two sources.
    Rich Ceppos, Car and Driver, 10 Feb. 2023
  • The last thing the country needs is its third major economic upheaval in a decade and a half.
    Kevin Warsh, WSJ, 12 Dec. 2021
  • Keep in mind that often the best time to figure out a second act is when your life is in upheaval.
    Terry Powell, Forbes, 11 Oct. 2021
  • All of that upheaval and left OSU even farther away from Michigan on the scoreboard.
    Nathan Baird, cleveland, 27 Nov. 2022
  • In the months leading up to the shooting, Chou dealt with upheaval in his personal life.
    Los Angeles Times, 18 May 2022
  • Fiscal upheaval One bright spot could emerge on the horizon.
    Sophie Kiderlin, CNBC, 30 Apr. 2025
  • And this kind of creates a lot of like confusion and upheaval, and this is not helpful at all.
    Kira Bindrim, Quartz, 10 May 2022
  • There was no shortage of earthbound upheaval from the storm known as Eunice.
    New York Times, 18 Feb. 2022
  • Then, in 1332 B.C.E., Tutankhamun ascended the throne at the age of eight or nine to preside over a nation in upheaval.
    Zach Zorich, Scientific American, 4 Nov. 2022
  • But long before the upheaval of the last decade, Janet Jackson was proudly claiming her space.
    Harper's BAZAAR, 17 Mar. 2022
  • Domestic political concerns, as well as tough losses suffered in nearly two years of regional conflicts and upheavals, appear to have led these Iran allies to take a backseat in the latest round convulsing the region.
    Abby Sewell, Los Angeles Times, 14 June 2025

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'upheaval.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Last Updated: