verb / noun · academic
surge
UK/sɜːdʒ/US/sɜːrdʒ/SURGE
task1
a sudden, large increase (often short-term)
Examples
“Oil prices surged overnight after the news.”
“There was a surge in demand for vaccines.”
“The surge overwhelmed the small clinic.”
Band 8 sentence
“Following the sanctions announcement, electricity prices surged by nearly 30% within a week.”
Collocations
- surge by (20%)
- a surge in demand
- surge overnight
Word family
surge nounsurge verbsurging adj / verb-ing
Common mistakes
Oil prices surged to 10%.→Oil prices surged by 10%.
The number surge last year.→The number surged last year.
A sudden surge on demand caused shortages.→A sudden surge in demand caused shortages.
Say it for a higher band
5increase→6rise→7+surge
Synonyms
spike
jump
Easily confused
spike
“Website traffic spiked for a few hours after the advertisement.”
Related words
Learn this word with the rest of its set, and get reminded at the right time.
In Rise & fall
Learn it with its set