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
  • The shift comes at a time of upheaval for the luxury e-commerce space.
    — Noor Lobad, WWD, 9 Sep. 2024
  • 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
  • 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
  • The sudden upheaval in Cadillac-think stems from two sources.
    — Rich Ceppos, Car and Driver, 10 Feb. 2023
  • 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
  • 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
  • The director’s first hit, 1979’s Alien, was at the studio, and he’s been loyal to the company through many upheavals over the decades.
    — James Hibberd, The Hollywood Reporter, 31 Oct. 2024
  • At the start of 2023, the U.S. housing market was still in a state of upheaval, but experts were optimistic that the tides were turning.
    — Kristine Gill, Better Homes & Gardens, 2 Jan. 2024
  • Last fall my husband and I separated for four months, and my whole life was in a sort of upheaval.
    — Stephanie Land, TIME, 6 Mar. 2025
  • The Wave went through rare upheaval last season and this past offseason, so the full reboot might serve them well.
    — Tom Krasovic, San Diego Union-Tribune, 15 Mar. 2025
  • There was, however, a fair bit of upheaval in the most recent rankings.
    — Chris Morris, Fortune, 24 Mar. 2023
  • In times of geopolitical upheaval on Earth, what happens to the ISS?
    — Joanna Thompson, Scientific American, 25 Feb. 2022
  • Last year, in the wake of electoral upheaval, street protests and a disjointed, politicized response to the pandemic, the U.S. fell to a +5.
    — John Wilkens, San Diego Union-Tribune, 12 Feb. 2022
  • All this economic upheaval raises a central question: Why is Trump so focused on tariffs?
    — Chad P. Bown, Foreign Affairs, 11 Mar. 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.

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