surge

UK/sɜːd͡ʒ//sɝd͡ʒ/

surge noun: a sudden transient rush, flood or increase.

Noun (1)

surge (plural surges)

A sudden transient rush, flood or increase.
- He felt a surge of excitement.
- As President Obama turns his attention once again to filling out a cabinet and writing an Inaugural Address, this much is clear: he should not expect to bask in a surge of national unity, or to witness a crowd of millions overrun the Mall just to say they were there.2012 November 7, Matt Bai, “Winning a Second Term, Obama Will Confront Familiar Headwinds”, in New York Times
Synonyms:

torrent
The maximum amplitude of a vehicle's forward/backward oscillation.
A sudden electrical spike or increase of voltage and current.
- A power surge at that generator created a blackout across the whole district.
- When the diesel was being worked full out, the ammeter normally showed about 1,500-1,600 amps, with occasional surges of current at starting or up the steepest gradients to 1,700 or even 1,800 amps.1959 March, Cecil J. Allen, “Locomotive Running Past and Present”, in Trains Illustrated, page 132
A momentary reversal of the airflow through the compressor section of a jet engine due to disruption of the airflow entering the engine's air intake, accompanied by loud banging noises, emission of flame, and temporary loss of thrust.
The swell or heave of the sea.
- He that doubteth is like the surge of the sea driven by the wind and tossed.1901, Bible (American Standard Version), James i. 6
- He flies aloft, and, with impetuous roar, / Pursues the foaming surges to the shore.1697, Virgil, “Georgics”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC
(US, attributive, often) A deployment in large numbers at short notice.
- surge capacity; surge fleet; surge deployment capabilities
The tapered part of a windlass barrel or a capstan, upon which the cable surges, or slips.

Verb

surge (third-person singular simple present surges, present participle surging, simple past and past participle surged)

(intransitive) To rush, flood, or increase suddenly.
- Toaster sales surged last year.
- Carried somehow, somewhither, for some reason, on these surging floods, were these travelers, of errand not wholly obvious to their fellows, yet of such sort as to call into query alike the nature of their errand and their own relations.1910, Emerson Hough, chapter II, in The Purchase Price: Or The Cause of Compromise, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC
To accelerate forwards, particularly suddenly.
- A ship surges forwards, sways sideways and heaves up.
- Wales began the second half as they ended the first, closing down Montenegro quickly and the pressure told as Bale surged into the box and pulled the ball back for skipper Ramsey, arriving on cue, to double their lead.2011 September 2, “Wales 2-1 Montenegro”, in BBC
(intransitive) To experience a momentary reversal of airflow through the compressor section due to disruption of intake airflow.
- Use of maximum reverse thrust at low speeds can cause the engine to surge from ingesting its own exhaust.
(transitive) To slack off a line.

Noun (2)

surge (plural surges)

(obsolete) A spring; a fountain.
- all great rivers are gorged and assembled of various surges and springs of water1523-1525, John Bourchier, 2nd Baron Berners, Froissart's Chronicles

surge meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali

surge in Tamil

அலை எழுச்சி பொங்கி எழு, எழுச்சி, கொதித்தெழு, கிளம்பல், அலை எழுச்சி, கெம்பல்

surge in Bengali

ঢেউ, ঊর্মি, স্ফীতি, উত্থাল তরঙ্গ, তরঙ্গায়িত হওয়া, ঢেউ ওঠা

More languagesFewer languages

surge in Telugu: పొంగు poṅgu
surge in Malayalam: തിരമാല, തരംഗം, പൊങ്ങിമറിയൽഅലയടിക്കുക, കുതിച്ചുയരുക
surge in Kannada: ಕ್ಷೋಭೆ, ಕಲ್ಲೋಲ, ಹೊಯ್ದಾಟ, ಹೊಯ್ಲಾಟ

Examples of surge in a sentence

With a surge of adrenaline, she wrenched the car door off and pulled out the injured man.
The recent surge of deaths due to corona reveals the shortcomings of our current healthcare system.
Some people bungee jump to feel alive through the surge of adrenaline.

All 40 example sentences with surge

Synonyms of surge

Forms of surge

Noun
plural	surges
Verb
third-person singular present	surges
present participle	surging
past participle	surged
past	surged

Past tense of surge: surged

Plural of surge: surges

Origin of surge

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.

From Middle English sourge, of uncertain origin. In the earliest examples, translating Old French sourgeon (modern French surgeon), from sourge- (which the Middle English term is probably from), the present stem of sourdre, from Latin surgō (“to rise”).

Words formed from surge

Phrases with surge

Words that rhyme with surge

6 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about surge

What does surge mean?: Surge means a sudden transient rush, flood or increase.
What is surge in Hindi?: Surge in Hindi is मौज (mauj), उफान (uphān). See Surge meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is surge?: Surge can be a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce surge?: Surge is pronounced /sɝd͡ʒ/ (US).
What is the plural of surge?: The plural of surge is surges.

Words near surge in the dictionary

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-surge.ogg.

Cite this entry: “surge.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/surge. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.