upscale

1 of 3

adjective

up·​scale ˈəp-ˈskāl 

: relating to, being, or appealing to affluent consumers

also : of a superior quality

upscale

2 of 3

verb

upscaled; upscaling; upscales

transitive verb

1

: to make (something) more appealing to affluent consumers : to make (something) more upscale

The council is renaming them the Fashion Awards, globalizing them, moving the hoopla around them to the Royal Albert Hall and otherwise upscaling them.

—Vanessa Friedman

"Everybody's trying to upscale men's colognes because the prestige brands have taken share from the mass brands," says cosmetics industry consultant Allan Mottus.

—Ronald Alsop

also : to improve the quality of (something)

… even retained a handwriting teacher to upscale her penmanship—no more tiny circles over her i's.

—Brad Darrach

2

: to increase the size; scope, or scale of (something)

A star is an upscaled nuclear reactor, not a bonfire.

—Laurence A. Marschall

As a result, an upscaling of the problem of underrepresentation to the national scale mobilizes scalar politics …

—Emily Skop

upscale

3 of 3

adverb

: to or toward the upper, more expensive end of a range of products or services

He tried to move upscale—toward higher-cost, higher-profit garments, which, in theory, would be less susceptible to price competition.

—James Lardner

… chef Celestino Drago has taken Sicilian cuisine upscale in his chic Santa Monica restaurant.

—Thomas Matthews

Synonyms

Adjective

• exclusive
• high-end
• upmarket

Examples of upscale in a Sentence

Adjective

a new upscale shopping center is under construction on the west end of town

Recent Examples on the Web

Adjective

Shoppers walk into a Burberry store at Fashion Valley, an upscale shopping mall on December 13, 2024 in San Diego, California. —Karen Gilchrist, CNBC, 24 Jan. 2025

Moy said Hard Rock Casino Northern Indiana’s Asian gaming landscape includes an upscale Asian gaming lounge with hosts who speak a variety of Asian languages including Cantonese, Taishanese, Mandarin and Vietnamese. —Philip Potempa, Chicago Tribune, 24 Jan. 2025

Verb

That brings us to Nvidia's answer for that problem: DLSS 4 and its Multi-Frame Generation feature. DLSS 4 and Multi-Frame Generation As a refresher, Nvidia's DLSS Frame Generation feature, as introduced in the GeForce 40-series, takes DLSS upscaling one step further. —Ars Technica, 24 Jan. 2025

Debunking 3 Common Climate Change Myths Carbon Source Hotspots Researchers upscaled the CO2 data, which combined individual site-level readings with climate, soil, and vegetation records to create living maps that showed the fluctuations of atmospheric carbon. —Jack Knudson, Discover Magazine, 22 Jan. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

Adjective

1966, in the meaning defined above

Verb

1963, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Adverb

1977, in the meaning defined above

Phrases Containing upscale

• go/move upscale

Kids Definition

upscale

adjective

up·​scale

ˈəp-ˈskāl

: relating to, being, or appealing to wealthy consumers

upscale shops

: of a superior quality

upscale products