: relating to, being, or appealing to affluent consumers
also
: of a superior quality
upscaled; upscaling; upscales
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
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
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
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
Laurence A. MarschallAs a result, an upscaling of the problem of underrepresentation to the national scale mobilizes scalar politics …—Emily Skop
Emily Skop
: 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
James Lardner… chef Celestino Drago has taken Sicilian cuisine upscale in his chic Santa Monica restaurant.—Thomas Matthews
Thomas MatthewsExamples 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
Josh Max, Forbes.com, 18 Apr. 2025
The dinner is on the upscale end of a wide variety of events being held to celebrate April 20.
—Robert McCoppin, Chicago Tribune, 18 Apr. 2025
Jason Evangelho, Forbes, 20 Mar. 2025
Blue Biofuels completed the build-out of a pilot plant in 2023 and is working on upscaling and optimizing processes to finalize design and operational parameters for a full-scale commercial system.
—Quartz Intelligence Newsroom, Quartz, 19 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for upscale
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Adjective
Many upscale hotels, seeking to lure travelers fond of cruising, stepping out or joyriding, are increasingly offering fine sets of wheels to guests booking certain packages.
—Josh Max, Forbes.com, 18 Apr. 2025
The dinner is on the upscale end of a wide variety of events being held to celebrate April 20.
—Robert McCoppin, Chicago Tribune, 18 Apr. 2025
Verb
Pop the game into the Switch 2, and Nintendo’s AI upscaling tech and Monolith Soft’s graphics work together to give you a steady 60FPS framerate and higher in-game resolutions.
—Jason Evangelho, Forbes, 20 Mar. 2025
Blue Biofuels completed the build-out of a pilot plant in 2023 and is working on upscaling and optimizing processes to finalize design and operational parameters for a full-scale commercial system.
—Quartz Intelligence Newsroom, Quartz, 19 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for upscale
Cite this Entry
“Upscale.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/upscale. Accessed 22 Apr. 2025.
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