Upstart
noun
A person who has risen suddenly in rank or importance, especially one who behaves arrogantly.
He is an upstart who came into wealth and power through luck and ruthlessly maintains his status.
Often appears as...
- ambitious upstart
- arrogant upstart
Usage tips
Disapproving
adjective
Having or showing a lack of respect to someone who has a higher social rank or status.
She found his upstart attitude offensive.
Often appears as...
- upstart behavior
- upstart attitude
Usage tips
Disapproving
noun
A person who has risen suddenly in rank or importance, especially one who behaves arrogantly.
He is an upstart who came into wealth and power through luck and ruthlessly maintains his status.
Often appears as...
- ambitious upstart
- arrogant upstart
Usage tips
Disapproving
adjective
Having or showing a lack of respect to someone who has a higher social rank or status.
She found his upstart attitude offensive.
Often appears as...
- upstart behavior
- upstart attitude
Usage tips
Disapproving
Definition 1 of 2
Pro Tip 1/3Sudden Rise
Use 'upstart' for someone who quickly gains status, often surprising others.
The tech industry is full of upstarts who become CEOs overnight.
Pro Tip 2/3Negative Tone
'Upstart' generally carries a negative connotation, implying arrogance.
The upstart executive dismissed the advice of his experienced peers.
Pro Tip 3/3Not Established
An 'upstart' is often seen as lacking establishment or traditional legitimacy.
Old companies view these upstarts as threats to their dominance.
Pro Tip 1/3Sudden Rise
Use 'upstart' for someone who quickly gains status, often surprising others.
The tech industry is full of upstarts who become CEOs overnight.
Pro Tip 2/3Negative Tone
'Upstart' generally carries a negative connotation, implying arrogance.
The upstart executive dismissed the advice of his experienced peers.
Pro Tip 3/3Not Established
An 'upstart' is often seen as lacking establishment or traditional legitimacy.
Old companies view these upstarts as threats to their dominance.
Pro Tip 1/3Sudden Rise
Use 'upstart' for someone who quickly gains status, often surprising others.
The tech industry is full of upstarts who become CEOs overnight.
Pro Tip 2/3Negative Tone
'Upstart' generally carries a negative connotation, implying arrogance.
The upstart executive dismissed the advice of his experienced peers.
Pro Tip 3/3Not Established
An 'upstart' is often seen as lacking establishment or traditional legitimacy.
Old companies view these upstarts as threats to their dominance.
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Video examples
The mysterious microbes...
most of the cells die off, of course, because they're starving. But a few of the cells survive. If you take these old surviving cells and compete them, also under starvation conditions, against a new, fast-growing culture of E. coli, the grizzled old tough guys beat out the squeaky clean upstarts
Video examples
Jamie Drummond: Let's...
good baseline survey data, and we're going to need the help of big data through all of this process to make sure we can really monitor the progress. And then we've got to connect with the big crowd. Now here, we see the role for an unprecedented coalition of social media giants and upstarts,
Video examples
Tim Flannery: Here on...
couldn't have made a better precis or summary of my work if he'd had my notes in front of him and he thought perhaps that his whole life's work was about to be stolen by this upstart this working class later as it was he appealed to his friends particularly those who looked
Video examples
Gangsters in Lockup PIPE...
are the upstarts few in numbers but known for dealing drugs and making weapons their competing factions that can make for a volatile mix to strengthen numbers and plus we try to dominate over everything I mean if we want to do something we can do it
Video examples
How Do Cartels Get Their...
and terrifying ISIS-style executions have helped them dominate underworld markets across Mexico, becoming the Sinaloa Cartel's biggest rival. And the kingpin of these violent upstarts, perhaps the most dangerous drug lord in the world,
Video examples
Kangaroo Birth PIPE...
attracts another male suitor but the dominant male scoffs and this upstart hear that that's the sound of a dominant male kangaroo scoffing the result of this mating will produce an embryo that will grow a few days and then become
Video examples
Let's crowdsource the...
see the role for a unprecedented coalition of social media Giants and upstarts telecoms companies reality TV show formats gaming companies telecoms all of them together in kind of there we are the world moment could they come
Video examples
Teach girls bravery, not...
My pollsters told me that I was crazy to run, that there was no way that I could win. But I ran anyway, and in 2012, I became an upstart in a New York City congressional race.
Video examples
Monkey fight! PIPE Cheeky...
the mating season begins and the mature males have to jostle for position they won't tolerate a young upstart as they try to win favor with the females
Video examples
Felix Dennis' odes to...
What of the Brand and the Label? What of the upstart Sport? And what of the Constitution, That bully of last resort?
Video examples
The mysterious microbes...
most of the cells die off, of course, because they're starving. But a few of the cells survive. If you take these old surviving cells and compete them, also under starvation conditions, against a new, fast-growing culture of E. coli, the grizzled old tough guys beat out the squeaky clean upstarts
Video examples
Jamie Drummond: Let's...
good baseline survey data, and we're going to need the help of big data through all of this process to make sure we can really monitor the progress. And then we've got to connect with the big crowd. Now here, we see the role for an unprecedented coalition of social media giants and upstarts,
Video examples
Tim Flannery: Here on...
couldn't have made a better precis or summary of my work if he'd had my notes in front of him and he thought perhaps that his whole life's work was about to be stolen by this upstart this working class later as it was he appealed to his friends particularly those who looked
Video examples
Gangsters in Lockup PIPE...
are the upstarts few in numbers but known for dealing drugs and making weapons their competing factions that can make for a volatile mix to strengthen numbers and plus we try to dominate over everything I mean if we want to do something we can do it
Video examples
How Do Cartels Get Their...
and terrifying ISIS-style executions have helped them dominate underworld markets across Mexico, becoming the Sinaloa Cartel's biggest rival. And the kingpin of these violent upstarts, perhaps the most dangerous drug lord in the world,
Video examples
Kangaroo Birth PIPE...
attracts another male suitor but the dominant male scoffs and this upstart hear that that's the sound of a dominant male kangaroo scoffing the result of this mating will produce an embryo that will grow a few days and then become
Video examples
Let's crowdsource the...
see the role for a unprecedented coalition of social media Giants and upstarts telecoms companies reality TV show formats gaming companies telecoms all of them together in kind of there we are the world moment could they come
Video examples
Teach girls bravery, not...
My pollsters told me that I was crazy to run, that there was no way that I could win. But I ran anyway, and in 2012, I became an upstart in a New York City congressional race.
Video examples
Monkey fight! PIPE Cheeky...
the mating season begins and the mature males have to jostle for position they won't tolerate a young upstart as they try to win favor with the females
Video examples
Felix Dennis' odes to...
What of the Brand and the Label? What of the upstart Sport? And what of the Constitution, That bully of last resort?
Example 1 of 10
Quote examples
Louis Armstrong
American Musician
We never did try to get together and to show the younger Negroes such as myself, to try and even to show that he has ambitions - and with just a little encouragement, I could have really done something worthwhile. But instead, we did nothing but let the young upstarts know that they were young and simple, and that was that.
Quote examples
Noam Chomsky
American Activist
Britain kept its position as the dominant world power well into the 20th century despite steady decline. By the end of World War II, dominance had shifted decisively into the hands of the upstart across the sea, the United States, by far the most powerful and wealthy society in world history.
Quote examples
Martin Filler
American Critic
The popular mythology of creative genius depends on beloved stereotypes of the artist in youth and old age: the misunderstood upstart who forces us to see the world afresh; and the revered sage who shows us depths of insight attainable only through a lifetime of hard-won experience.
Quote examples
John Caudwell
English Businessman
When I came into the mobile phone business, I was really the upstart who pretty much took the business, not quite by storm, but really made an impact on it quite early on. But it was from a position, really, of feeling that I was a last mover.
Quote examples
James Wolcott
American Critic
In the Tea Party era, it is the restless conservative Republican who has become passion's plaything, the toy of impetuous romance, an erotomania only intensified by the lusting for an upstart savior.
Quote examples
Brian Eno
British Musician
If you've spent a long time developing a skill and techniques, and now some 14 year-old upstart can get exactly the same result, you might feel a bit miffed I suppose, but that has happened forever.
Quote examples
Elvis Mitchell
American Critic
There's a great deal of echoing going on in 'Old School.' Mr. Piven, who played the upstart outsider in the 1994 campus comedy 'PCU,' has crossed over into playing the stiff martinet.
Quote examples
Zadie Smith
British Novelist
English, as a subject, never really got over its upstart nature. It tries to bulk itself up with hopeless jargon and specious complexity, tries to imitate subjects it can never be.
Quote examples
Stephanie Coontz
American Author
Heterosexuals were the upstarts who turned marriage into a voluntary love relationship rather than a mandatory economic and political institution.
Quote examples
Richard Griffiths
English Actor
If I had my way, all actors over 55 would be issued a 3-lb. wet salmon with which to slap the face of every young, beautiful, successful upstart.
Quote examples
Louis Armstrong
American Musician
We never did try to get together and to show the younger Negroes such as myself, to try and even to show that he has ambitions - and with just a little encouragement, I could have really done something worthwhile. But instead, we did nothing but let the young upstarts know that they were young and simple, and that was that.
Quote examples
Noam Chomsky
American Activist
Britain kept its position as the dominant world power well into the 20th century despite steady decline. By the end of World War II, dominance had shifted decisively into the hands of the upstart across the sea, the United States, by far the most powerful and wealthy society in world history.
Quote examples
Martin Filler
American Critic
The popular mythology of creative genius depends on beloved stereotypes of the artist in youth and old age: the misunderstood upstart who forces us to see the world afresh; and the revered sage who shows us depths of insight attainable only through a lifetime of hard-won experience.
Quote examples
John Caudwell
English Businessman
When I came into the mobile phone business, I was really the upstart who pretty much took the business, not quite by storm, but really made an impact on it quite early on. But it was from a position, really, of feeling that I was a last mover.
Quote examples
James Wolcott
American Critic
In the Tea Party era, it is the restless conservative Republican who has become passion's plaything, the toy of impetuous romance, an erotomania only intensified by the lusting for an upstart savior.
Quote examples
Brian Eno
British Musician
If you've spent a long time developing a skill and techniques, and now some 14 year-old upstart can get exactly the same result, you might feel a bit miffed I suppose, but that has happened forever.
Quote examples
Elvis Mitchell
American Critic
There's a great deal of echoing going on in 'Old School.' Mr. Piven, who played the upstart outsider in the 1994 campus comedy 'PCU,' has crossed over into playing the stiff martinet.
Quote examples
Zadie Smith
British Novelist
English, as a subject, never really got over its upstart nature. It tries to bulk itself up with hopeless jargon and specious complexity, tries to imitate subjects it can never be.
Quote examples
Stephanie Coontz
American Author
Heterosexuals were the upstarts who turned marriage into a voluntary love relationship rather than a mandatory economic and political institution.
Quote examples
Richard Griffiths
English Actor
If I had my way, all actors over 55 would be issued a 3-lb. wet salmon with which to slap the face of every young, beautiful, successful upstart.
Example 1 of 10
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