An upswing is a period when something improves, increases, or gets better after being down or stagnant. When a business sees an upswing in sales, customers are buying more products than before. When a basketball team experiences an upswing in performance, they start winning games after a losing streak.

An upswing in your grades means your test scores are climbing. An upswing in the economy means more people are finding jobs and businesses are growing.

You'll often hear about upswings in things that can be measured or tracked over time: a town might see an upswing in tourism, or a student might experience an upswing in confidence after mastering a difficult subject. The word suggests genuine improvement, not just a temporary blip.

The opposite is a downswing, when things decline or worsen. People talk about upswings hopefully because they indicate that hard work, good decisions, or changing circumstances are making things better.