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Glite Dictionary
to dredge up

to dredge up

18 6.2
To mention an unpleasant or forgotten memory from the past
  • phrasal verb
  • /drɛdʒ ʌp/
translation icon : sacar a relucir
  • I smiled with as much enthusiasm as I could dredge up from the pit of my despairing soul.
  • dredge up memories
  • dredge up the past
  • dredge up old

Is someone dredging up all the stuff that I haven't had to deal with for a while?

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Examples

  • Now I don't want people dredging up old history.

    Nails (2017)

  • I didn't want this diagnosis because it dredged up memories of behaviors I didn't want to admit.

    Blog text (18)

  • I just, I feel bad making you dredge up all that stuff about your parents.

    The Kingdom of Var (2019)

  • I'm not trying to dredge up the past.

    WolfCop (2014)

  • There were a thousand and one tales I could dredge up from my memory.

    Fiction book (1993)

  • Is someone dredging up all the stuff that I haven't had to deal with for a while?

    Tim Ferriss

  • I didn't mean to dredge all that stuff up.

    The Forest (2016)

  • For many minutes, she sat on the couch in the deathly quiet house, trying to dredge up memories.

    Fiction book (1998)

  • Eritrean men and women had to dredge up courage and perseverance they never knew they had.

    Academic text (1996)

  • Talking about the accident always dredges up painful memories for him.

Synonyms

to reopen old wounds
vsto dredge up
  • Informal
1 7.4

Cause people to remember old hurts or problems

is a plain mention of past points rather than intensely causing hurt
to rake up
vsto dredge up
  • Informal
1 6.8

Bring up old unpleasant events or arguments in public unnecessarily

is a general mention of past matters rather than public exposure
to drag up
vsto dredge up
  • Informal
1 6.8

To talk about bad things from the past that are better left forgotten

is a neutral mention of past items, not always reviving deep pain
to rake up old memories
vsto dredge up
  • Informal
6.8

Remember past events on purpose, often ones you would rather forget

is to mention past events broadly, not only deliberate memory revival
to rake over the past
vsto dredge up
  • Informal
7.1

To keep talking about old mistakes or bad events unnecessarily

is a single act of mentioning, not repeated examination of history
to rake over old coals
vsto dredge up
  • Informal
8.4

To bring up old arguments or painful memories again

is a general bringing up of past matters rather than provoking tensions
to stir the embers
vsto dredge up
7.8

To make old feelings or memories strong again

is mainly about mentioning past facts, not reviving faded emotions

Antonyms

to forget
∞ 1.0

Not remember something you should remember

to suppress
176 4.8

To stop public protest by force or by people in power

How Revealed

to dredge up
18 6.2
to resurface
34 4.2
to bring up
788 2.6
to mention
∞ 1.0

Surface Forms

dredge up infinitive
dredged up past
dredged up past participle
dredging up present participle
dredges up third person singular

Morphology

dredge + up

The literal verb 'dredge' (to lift sediment from the bottom) combined with 'up' evokes the metaphor of bringing something buried to the surface, which aligns with mentioning past or unpleasant matters. However, this is a metaphorical extension and 'dredge' is relatively specialized; the specific pragmatic sense of resurfacing past issues is not fully predictable for learners, so it is only partially transparent.

Etymology

Dredge up comes from the image of a boat tool used to dredge mud from the riverbed and bring buried, dirty things to the surface. So, to dredge up a memory means to bring back and mention a 'forgotten' or 'unpleasant' thing from the past.