Library / English Dictionary

SURGE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

A sudden or abrupt strong increase

Example:

an upsurge in violent crime

Synonyms:

surge; upsurge

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("surge" is a kind of...):

increase; step-up (the act of increasing something)

Derivation:

surge (see one's performance improve)

surge (rise rapidly)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A large sea wave

Synonyms:

billow; surge

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural events

Hypernyms ("surge" is a kind of...):

moving ridge; wave (one of a series of ridges that moves across the surface of a liquid (especially across a large body of water))

Derivation:

surge (rise or heave upward under the influence of a natural force such as a wave)

surge (rise or move forward)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A sudden forceful flow

Synonyms:

rush; spate; surge; upsurge

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural events

Hypernyms ("surge" is a kind of...):

flow; flowing (the motion characteristic of fluids (liquids or gases))

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "surge"):

debris storm; debris surge (the sudden spread of dust and debris from a collapsing building)

onrush (a forceful forward rush or flow)

Derivation:

surge (rise or move forward)

surge (rise and move, as in waves or billows)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

See one's performance improve

Example:

He levelled the score and then surged ahead

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "surge" is one way to...):

ameliorate; better; improve; meliorate (get better)

Domain category:

athletics; sport (an active diversion requiring physical exertion and competition)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s

Derivation:

surge (a sudden or abrupt strong increase)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Rise or heave upward under the influence of a natural force such as a wave

Example:

the boats surged

Synonyms:

scend; surge

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Hypernyms (to "surge" is one way to...):

arise; come up; go up; lift; move up; rise; uprise (move upward)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Something is ----ing PP

Derivation:

surge (a large sea wave)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Rise or move forward

Example:

surging waves

Synonyms:

surge; tide

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Hypernyms (to "surge" is one way to...):

course; feed; flow; run (move along, of liquids)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

Derivation:

surge (a large sea wave)

surge (a sudden forceful flow)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Rise rapidly

Example:

the dollar soared against the yen

Synonyms:

soar; soar up; soar upwards; surge; zoom

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Hypernyms (to "surge" is one way to...):

arise; come up; go up; lift; move up; rise; uprise (move upward)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "surge"):

billow; wallow (rise up as if in waves)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Somebody ----s

Derivation:

surge (a sudden or abrupt strong increase)

Sense 5

Meaning:

Rise and move, as in waves or billows

Example:

The army surged forward

Synonyms:

billow; heave; surge

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Hypernyms (to "surge" is one way to...):

blow up; inflate (fill with gas or air)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

Derivation:

surge (a sudden forceful flow)

Credits

 Context examples: 

Such devices may be electrical, fluidic or mechanical and are sometimes used to convert a small continuous power source into a short surge of energy or vice versa.

(Device Energy Storage System Problem Evaluation Result, Food and Drug Administration)

In coastal areas, very high tides called storm surges cause extensive damage.

(Hurricanes, Federal Emergency Management Agency)

The snow walls pressed him on every side, and a great surge of fear swept through him—the fear of the wild thing for the trap.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

I could almost hear the beating of my own heart; and the blood surging through my temples sounded like blows from a hammer.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

This agent is used for the inhibition of premature LH surges in women undergoing controlled ovarian hyperstimulation, and in combination with other hormones for retrieval of the mature follicles for in-vitro fertilization.

(Ganirelix Acetate, NCI Thesaurus)

A coronal mass ejection, or CME, surged off the side of the sun on May 9, 2014, and NASA's newest solar observatory caught it in extraordinary detail.

(Observing a Gigantic Eruption of Solar Material, NASA)

Rod photoreceptors, the light-sensing cells that die off first in retinitis pigmentosa, were precipitously lost along with a surge in the expression of neurotoxic inflammatory cytokines.

(Immune system can slow degenerative eye disease, National Institutes of Health)

Protecting marine life could help the oceans to function better, soaking up more carbon and providing barriers against sea level rises and storm surges, in the form of coral reefs and mangrove swamps.

(Oceans running out of oxygen at unprecedented rate, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

The rocks of the Spy-glass re-echoed it a score of times; the whole troop of marsh-birds rose again, darkening heaven, with a simultaneous whirr; and long after that death yell was still ringing in my brain, silence had re-established its empire, and only the rustle of the redescending birds and the boom of the distant surges disturbed the languor of the afternoon.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

But a great cry, which was audible even above the wind and water, rose from the shore at this moment; the sea, sweeping over the rolling wreck, made a clean breach, and carried men, spars, casks, planks, bulwarks, heaps of such toys, into the boiling surge.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)