dredge up
phrasal verb
dredged up; dredging up; dredges up
: to start talking or thinking again about (something unpleasant that happened a long time ago)
Reporters dredged up the fact that the senator avoided the military draft.
She didn't like to dredge up bad memories.
Examples of dredge up in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Back then, many advisors were dredging up this old idea to help ease worried investors’ fears.
—
Michael Foster, Forbes.com, 22 Apr. 2025
But getting the band, a long-estranged former couple, back together begins to dredge up old tensions, leaving them to grapple with whether the past can—or indeed should—stay in the past.
—Lisa Wong MacAbasco, Vogue, 28 Mar. 2025
This churning involves the storms dredging up ammonia in some places and hurling it far into the Jovian depths as slushy hailstones in others.
—Kiona N. Smith, Space.com, 3 Apr. 2025
Throughout the picture, Shula and other girls are told not to dredge up the past, or do anything that could harm their extended family’s unity and stability.
—Bilge Ebiri, Vulture, 7 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for dredge up
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Michael Foster, Forbes.com, 22 Apr. 2025
But getting the band, a long-estranged former couple, back together begins to dredge up old tensions, leaving them to grapple with whether the past can—or indeed should—stay in the past.
—Lisa Wong MacAbasco, Vogue, 28 Mar. 2025
This churning involves the storms dredging up ammonia in some places and hurling it far into the Jovian depths as slushy hailstones in others.
—Kiona N. Smith, Space.com, 3 Apr. 2025
Throughout the picture, Shula and other girls are told not to dredge up the past, or do anything that could harm their extended family’s unity and stability.
—Bilge Ebiri, Vulture, 7 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for dredge up
Cite this Entry
“Dredge up.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/dredge%20up. Accessed 19 May. 2025.
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