Meaning & use
soar
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Meanings
verbintransitive
To fly or rise high into the air smoothly and without effort.
Grammar: No object: The eagle soared. Often followed by adverbs or prepositional phrases like 'above' or 'over'.
Patterns
- soar above something
- soar over something
- soar into the sky
The eagle soared high above the valley.
Hot air balloons soared into the clear morning sky.
We watched the glider soar silently over the hills.
verbintransitive
To increase quickly to a high level or amount.
Grammar: No object: Prices soared. Often used with 'to' or 'by': soared to $100, soared by 20%.
Patterns
- soar to something
- soar by something
- soar in value
House prices have soared in the last few years.
Temperatures soared to 40 degrees Celsius.
The company's profits soared by 50 percent.
verbintransitivefigurative
If your spirits, hopes, or mood soar, they become very happy or positive.
Grammar: No object: Her spirits soared. Often used with 'spirits', 'hopes', or 'mood' as the subject.
Patterns
- spirits soar
- hopes soar
- mood soars
Her spirits soared when she heard the good news.
Hopes soared after the team scored in the first minute.
His mood soared after he received the job offer.
Word forms
| third person singular | soars |
|---|---|
| past tense | soared |
| past participle | soared |
| -ing form | soaring |
Common combinations
- soar high
- The kite soared high above the park.
- soar to a record
- Gold prices soared to a record high last month.
- soaring costs
- Soaring costs forced the company to raise prices.
- soar in popularity
- Electric cars have soared in popularity.
Synonyms and how they differ
- rise
- Rise is a general word for going up; soar suggests a fast, dramatic, or effortless increase.
- climb
- Climb often suggests a gradual increase; soar is much stronger and suggests a rapid, steep rise.
- glide
- Glide means to move smoothly without effort, often close to the ground; soar means to rise high into the air.
Opposites
Word family
- soaring adjective
- Rising very quickly to a high level: soaring prices.
Commonly confused: soar or sore? soar or sour?
soar vs sore
Sore is an adjective meaning painful or upset; soar is a verb meaning to fly high or increase rapidly. They sound the same but have different spellings and meanings.
soar vs sour
Sour means having a sharp taste like lemon or milk that has gone bad; soar is about rising. They are pronounced differently: /saʊər/ vs /sɔːr/.
Practice
The cost of living has ______ in recent months.
Choose one answer.
The present perfect 'has' needs the past participle 'soared'. 'Soar' is the base form, 'soaring' is the -ing form, and 'soars' is third person singular, none of which fit after 'has'.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “soar”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.