Phrasal verb
dredge up
Definition
phrasal verb. to talk about or remember something unpleasant from the past that people have forgotten.
phrasal verb. to mention or recall an unpleasant event or memory from the past, typically one that others would prefer to remain forgotten; often used metaphorically in the context of investigative or emotional retrieval.
Examples
“Why do you have to dredge up old arguments?”
“The journalist managed to dredge up some scandals from the politician's college days that everyone had long forgotten.”
“By reopening the cold case, the detective inadvertently dredged up painful memories for the victims' families that had taken decades to suppress.”
Examples
simple
“Why do you have to dredge up old arguments?”
contextual
“The journalist managed to dredge up some scandals from the politician's college days that everyone had long forgotten.”
complex
“By reopening the cold case, the detective inadvertently dredged up painful memories for the victims' families that had taken decades to suppress.”
Usage
usually takes an abstract object like memories, scandals, or the past.
Teaching tip
anchor the meaning with the literal sense of 'dredging' a riverbed to find mud or trash; this helps students visualize pulling something 'dirty' from the bottom of the past.
Pitfall
He dredged up to the old story.
He dredged up the old story.
the verb is transitive and takes a direct object without an extra preposition like 'to'.
Phrasal verb
Particles
up
Separability
optional
Pattern
dredge + up + object
Synonyms
Antonyms
Grammar
Scan code
englishreference.com/q/dredge-up