upcycle

Syllables: up·cy·cle/ˈʌpsaɪk(ə)l/

upcycle verb: to convert (waste materials, etc.) into new materials or products of higher quality and greater functionality.

Image: Christoph Rupprecht, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Verb

upcycle (third-person singular simple present upcycles, present participle upcycling, simple past and past participle upcycled)

(transitive) To convert (waste materials, etc.) into new materials or products of higher quality and greater functionality.
- Recycling in many cases means "downcycling" – in particular cases, however, it can also mean "upcycling".1994, Jim Mason, editor, Design for Manufacturability, 1994: An Environment for Improving Design and Designing to Improve Our Environment: Presented at the 1994 Design for Manufacturability...
- As I child I made thins from "nothing." If I didn't have any store-bought materials, I would go to my closet and cut up my least favorite article of clothing and make something new with it. It just made sense to use, reuse, upcycle and make things from scratch.2009, Jacqueline Myers-Cho, “Use, Reuse, Recycle”, in Strands: Creating Unexpected Fabrics and Fashionable Projects, Cincinnati, Oh.: North Light Books, F+W Media, →ISBN, page 7
(transitive) To promote into a more productive or useful role.
- One designer I know was known for his vibrant use of color in his fashions. When he purchased a weekend home not too far from me, he had this crazy idea to paint the bark of the trees in different bright shades. […] To me, this wasn't upcycling the Great Outdoors, but more like upchucking on it.2011, Danny Seo, “Upcycling the Great Outdoors”, in Upcycling: Create Beautiful Things with the Stuff You Already Have, Philadelphia, Pa.: Running Press, →ISBN
- Friday night's crowning victory at The Hawthorns was the 25th in 30 league matches since Antonio Conte's decisive re-gearing of his team in September, the tactical switches that have coaxed such a thrilling run from this team of bolt-ons and upcycled squad players, most notably Victor Moses, who...2017 May 13, Barney Ronay, “Antonio Conte’s brilliance has turned Chelsea’s pop-up team into champions”, in The Guardian, London, archived from the original on 09 Sep 2017

Noun

upcycle (plural upcycles)

A period of a cycle where something is increasing or improving.
- You could probably take care of yourself through the cycles but during the period when one of the upcycles—it should be an upcycle for your business—you just said you are going through a worse depression from that standpoint than a normal business depression?1943, United States Congress House Committee on Naval Affairs, Investigation of the Progress of the War Effort: Hearings before the Committee on Naval Affairs, House of Representatives...
- The upcycle has lasted so long that many economists even doubt the old cycle theories. Others try to label the lull in 1962 and again this year as the downcycles.1967, Steel: The Magazine of Metalworking and Metalproducing, volume 161, Cleveland, Oh.: Penton Publishing Co., →OCLC

upcycle meaning in Tamil and Malay

upcycle in Tamil

புத்துருவாக்கல்

upcycle in Malay

to convert into new materials or products of higher quality and greater functionality: kitar tinggi

Examples of upcycle in a sentence

Over the past decade Cambodia has made considerable strides, achieving sustained growth and poverty reduction, aided in part by the global upcycle.2009 December, “Staff Appraisal”, in Cambodia: 2009 Article IV Consultation—Staff Report; Staff Supplement; Public Information Notice on...
SECTOR ROTATION stock investment strategy in which mone is moved from one industrial sector to another in an effort to catch respective upcycles and thus outperform the overall market.2010, John Downes, Jordan Elliot Goodman, “SECTOR ROTATION”, in Dictionary of Finance and Investment Terms, 8th edition, Hauppauge, N.Y....

Antonyms of upcycle

downcycle

Forms of upcycle

Verb
third-person singular present	upcycles
present participle	upcycling
past participle	upcycled
past	upcycled
Noun
plural	upcycles
alternative form	up-cycle

Origin of upcycle

Blend of up- + recycle or possibly upgrade + recycle.

From up + cycle.

Words formed from upcycle

Questions about upcycle

What does upcycle mean?: Upcycle means to convert (waste materials, etc.) into new materials or products of higher quality and greater functionality.
What is upcycle in Tamil?: Upcycle in Tamil is புத்துருவாக்கல். See Upcycle meaning in Tamil.
How do you use upcycle in a sentence?: Over the past decade Cambodia has made considerable strides, achieving sustained growth and poverty reduction, aided in part by the global upcycle.
What part of speech is upcycle?: Upcycle can be a verb or a noun.
How do you pronounce upcycle?: Upcycle is pronounced /ˈʌpsaɪk(ə)l/ (UK).
What is the past tense of upcycle?: The past tense of upcycle is upcycled.

Words near upcycle in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: upcycle (page history and authors); upcycle (Tamil Wiktionary) (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.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-upcycle.wav.

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