Word.ws English Dictionary

trade up

trade up verb: to gain value on the stock exchange.

Verb

trade up (third-person singular simple present trades up, present participle trading up, simple past and past participle traded up)

  1. To gain value on the stock exchange.
  2. To sell something and replace it with something more expensive.
    • programmes like Ren and Stimpy and Rocko's Modern Life aimed at a younger audience also capitalize on this desire to trade up.2001, Elizabeth Bullen, Jane Kenway, Consuming Children, Education, Entertainment, Advertising, page 73
  3. To exchange a lower selection in a player draft for a higher one.
    • One of the few surprises saw the New York Giants take offensive tackle Andrew Thomas at number four while the Buccaneers traded up to 13 for offensive tackle Tristian Wirfs to give some protection to their new quarterback Brady.2020 April 24, “NFL draft 2020: Joe Burrow first pick for Cincinnati Bengals”, in BBC Sport

Antonyms of trade up

Forms of trade up

third-person singular presenttrades up
present participletrading up
past participletraded up
pasttraded up

Questions about trade up

What does trade up mean?
Trade up means to gain value on the stock exchange.
What part of speech is trade up?
Trade up is a verb.
What is the past tense of trade up?
The past tense of trade up is traded up.

Words near trade up in the dictionary

  1. trade union
  2. trade unionism
  3. trade unionist
  4. trade unionists
  5. trade unions
  6. trade up
  7. trade war
  8. trade wars
  9. trade wind
  10. trade winds
  11. trade work

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: trade up (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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