An uprising is when a group of people rise up together against those in power, usually because they believe they're being treated unfairly or unjustly. Think of it as a collective rebellion: instead of one person complaining, many people join together to resist authority, often through protests, strikes, or even fighting.

History is full of uprisings. The American colonists staged an uprising against British rule in 1776. In 1943, Jewish prisoners in the Warsaw Ghetto launched an uprising against their Nazi captors, knowing they faced overwhelming odds but refusing to surrender without resistance. The Hungarian Uprising of 1956 saw citizens fighting Soviet control of their country.

Uprisings differ from ordinary protests or disagreements. They involve serious, organized resistance, often at great personal risk to those involved. When workers in a factory stage an uprising against dangerous conditions, they collectively refuse to work until things change, going beyond filing complaints to taking direct action. When citizens mount an uprising against a dictator, they're putting their lives on the line for freedom.

The word can describe events both large and small, from a massive revolution that overthrows a government to students organizing an uprising against an unfair school policy. What makes something an uprising is that ordinary people band together, find their courage, and say, “enough is enough.”