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🆙 To raise up 🚫 To remove rule 🌫️ To rise up 😊 To make happier 🚗 A free ride 🛗 An elevator 🕵️ To steal 💆 Cosmetic surgery 💆 To do surgery 🪁 Upward force 🗑️ To remove carefully 🥔 To harvest plants 🚁 To fly goods 📄 To copy words 🎭 An upward move 👞 Shoe insert 📢 To shout ✈️ Air transport 🌊 A rise 🪓 To remove scalp
to lift

to lift

215 3.7
To help someone become better off or more confident
  • verb
  • /lɪft/
translation icon : animar
  • A kind word from a friend can really lift your spirits on a tough day.
  • lift someone's spirits
  • lift people from poverty
  • lift people

The awful way to the despair which was no human emotion lifted by degrees.

Examples

  • The King is unhappy with his mistress and seeks revelry to lift his spirits.

    The Man in the Iron Mask (1998)

  • Citizens needed something more to lift their spirits and engage their passions.

    Academic text (1993)

  • People who stand by you, encourage you, and lift you up.

    North of the 10 (2022)

  • You said that when you were at your lowest, he lifted you to your highest.

  • Well, I can think of something we can do that might lift your spirits.

    Angry Video Game Nerd: The Movie (2014)

  • The villagers understood that education could help lift them out of poverty.

    Academic text (2011)

  • I think this has lifted some of the fear and stigma that can accompany an unknown quantity.

    Academic text (2012)

  • Cecily, you've lifted a load from my mind.

    The Importance of Being Earnest (2002)

  • Malcolm walked in Harlem, urging people to lift themselves up, come to the meetings, etc.

    Fiction book (1992)

  • Listening to uplifting music can lift your mood when you feel down.

Synonyms

to cheer
vsto lift
392 1.0

To make someone feel happier

can also mean improving a person's status or practical situation
to cheer up
vsto lift
  • Informal
234 1.4

To feel happier after being sad or to make someone feel happier

also includes making someone more confident or improving their standing
to pick up
vsto lift
165 3.0

To get better or stronger

focuses more on personal feeling and social or status uplift
to bolster
vsto lift
84 4.3

To give extra support to a person, plan, or idea

is more specific about improving feelings, confidence, or social standing
to elevate
vsto lift
  • Formal
52 4.4

To give someone a higher job or rank

more often means making someone feel happier or more confident personally
to raise
vsto lift
38 2.7

To move someone to a higher job or rank

is more emotional and personal, not only formal promotion or rank
to pump up
vsto lift
  • Informal
28 4.1

Make someone feel excited and full of energy

is broader, including calmer confidence boosts and longer term improvement
to uplift
vsto lift
23 3.2

To make someone feel happier and more hopeful

can also refer to tangible improvement in status or condition
to lift up
vsto lift
19 3.7

To make someone feel happier and more hopeful

can also mean practical improvement of condition or social standing
to buck up
vsto lift
  • Informal
14 6.3

To become or make someone more cheerful and confident

also covers improving a person's actual condition or social position
to hearten
vsto lift
13 5.5

Make someone feel happier or more confident

also covers raising someone's position or situation, not just encouragement
to lift one's spirits
vsto lift
8 3.9

To make someone feel happier

also applies to improving confidence or real social or work standing
to boost morale
vsto lift
5 3.7

Make people feel more confident and positive

also applies to one person's mood or to raising their situation
to lift someone's spirits
vsto lift
1 3.9

To make someone feel happier when they are sad

has a broader sense that can include raising status or condition
to bolster confidence
vsto lift
1 4.0

To make someone feel more sure of themselves

is wider, also meaning to improve mood or external situation
to raise someone's spirits
vsto lift
1 3.4

Help someone feel happier

additionally implies boosting confidence or improving their situation
to buoy up
vsto lift
5.3

To make someone feel more cheerful and confident

also improves situation or status, not only mood or confidence
to bolster up
vsto lift
4.2

To give help to someone or something to make them stronger

is narrower in emotional effect, focusing on making someone feel better

Antonyms

to diminish
89 4.7

Make a person or thing seem less important

to depress
32 4.1

To make someone feel sad and lose hope

Idioms

to lift a finger
  • Informal
27 5.1

To make no effort to help

to lift one's spirits
8 3.9

To make someone feel happier

to lift the veil
4 7.1

To reveal information that was previously hidden

to lift someone's spirits
1 3.9

To make someone feel happier when they are sad

Phrasal Verbs

to lift up
107 1.1

To raise someone or something to a higher place

to lift weights
23 2.9

Raise heavy objects to make your muscles stronger

to lift off
20 3.9

To rise into the air from the ground like a plane or rocket

to lift up
19 3.7

To make someone feel happier and more hopeful

to lift out
5 2.7

To take something out by picking it up, often carefully or with a tool

to lift one's game
  • Informal
6.1

Try to do better to meet higher standards

Compounds

face lift
  • Specialized
7 4.4

Surgery that tightens the skin on the face and removes extra tissue to make someone look younger

ski lift
  • UK
4 2.7

A machine with seats on a moving cable that carries skiers up a slope

chair lift
  • UK
3 3.4

Seats hanging from a moving overhead cable that carry people up a mountain

heavy lift
  • US
2 6.8

A difficult task that needs a lot of effort

face lift
2 3.8

A cosmetic update to a building or place that makes it look newer

face-lift
1 4.0

A small change to the look of something to make it more modern or attractive

aerodynamic lift
  • Specialized
1 5.8

An upward force from moving air that holds a wing up

lift bridge
  • Specialized
1 5.7

A bridge with a section that rises so ships can pass under it

lift capacity
  • Specialized
1 4.5

The most weight that a crane can raise safely

Alpine lift
5.5

A moving bar on a slope that pulls people up while they keep their skis or snowboard on

lift pump
  • Specialized
5.6

A machine that moves water from a lower place to a higher place

surface lift
  • Specialized
5.1

A machine that pulls skiers up a slope while they stay on the ground

T-bar lift
5.1

A ski lift with a T-shaped bar that pulls skiers or snowboarders uphill as they hold it

top lift
  • Specialized
8.9

The bottom part of a shoe heel that often wears away and needs replacing

How Uplifting

to elate
19 6.4
to inspire
837 3.2
to cheer up
  • Informal
234 1.4
to lift
215 3.7
to encourage
∞ 2.3
comfort
319 1.0
to reassure
163 3.4

Surface Forms

lift infinitive
lifted past
lifted past participle
lifting present participle
lifts third person singular

Etymology

Lift has the basic idea of 'raising up', so to lift someone out of poverty is to 'raise' their life to a better level. That's why lift is used for improving someone's situation or status.