upskill

English

Etymology

From up- +‎ skill.

Verb

upskill (third-person singular simple present upskills, present participle upskilling, simple past and past participle upskilled)

1. (transitive) To teach (someone) additional skills, especially as an alternative to redundancy (firing).

   Synonym: skill up

   • 2018 January, “Towards a Reskilling Revolution: A Future of Jobs”, in World Economic Forum‎:

     For companies, reskilling and upskilling strategies will be critical if they are to find the talent they need and to contribute to socially responsible approaches to the future of work.

   • 2020 May 6, Paul Stephen, “Britain's bravest thinks big”, in Rail, page 61:

     "We've also invested £500,000 in new machinery in the last two years, including the engraving machine, so that we can bring £250,000 worth of work in-house that we previously sub-contracted. That's great news for us as it means we have upskilled people and can offer more security of employment."

2. (intransitive) To acquire such additional skills.

Related terms

• deskill
• reskill
• semiskilled, semi-skilled
• skill issue
• unskilled
• upskilling

See also

• Thesaurus:skilled
• upgrade

Anagrams

• skill up