US /sɝd͡ʒ/ UK /sɜːd͡ʒ/
noun verb Freq #11030

Meanings

  1. 1
    noun

    A sudden large increase in something.

    There was a surge in online sales over the holidays.

  2. 2
    noun

    A sudden strong feeling.

    He felt a surge of excitement as the plane took off.

  3. 3
    verb

    To increase suddenly and strongly, or to move forward in a powerful rush.

    The crowd surged towards the stage.

  4. 4
    noun

    A sudden rise in electrical power.

    A power surge damaged several computers.

Thesaurus

Synonyms
1 noun · a sudden large increase in... upsurgetorrent
3 verb · to increase suddenly and... heave
More inrush
Word family
Forms surgedsurgessurging
Derived forms countersurgesurgeless
Related forms sourcesurgation

Etymology

The verb is from Middle English ^((please verify)) surgen, possibly from Middle French sourgir, from Old French surgir (“to rise, ride near the shore, arrive, land”), from Old Catalan surgir, from Latin surgō, contraction of surrigō, subrigō (“lift up, raise, erect; intransitive rise, arise, get up, spring up, grow, etc.”, transitive verb), from sub (“from below; up”) + regō (“to stretch”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₃réǵeti (“to straighten; right”), from the root *h₃reǵ-; see regent. Doublet of source and sourd. The noun is from the verb.

View etymology graph ->

Topics

markdown

Send feedback

Optional — only if you'd like a reply.