skyrocket

/ˌskaɪˈrɑkət/

/ˈskaɪrɒkɪt/

Other forms: skyrocketing; skyrocketed; skyrockets

When something skyrockets, it shoots up. Immediately after the Winter Olympics, interest in ice skating, bobsledding, and curling tends to skyrocket, or increase suddenly and dramatically.

The verb skyrocket is good to use when something grows or shoots up as abruptly as a firework. Gas prices, food prices, debt, and winter cases of the flu are all said, from time to time, to skyrocket. A more literal meaning of skyrocket is the actual rocket that's designed to send a flare or firework high into the sky. A bottle rocket — a firework that is placed in an empty bottle before being lit and shooting into the air — is one example of a small skyrocket.

Definitions of skyrocket

1. verb

   move or be propelled at great speed, often upward or in a specific direction
   “prices skyrocketed”

   synonyms: rocket

   type of:

   arise, come up, go up, lift, move up, rise, uprise

   move upward
2. noun

   propels bright light high in the sky, or used to propel a lifesaving line or harpoon
   type of:

   visual signal

   a signal that involves visual communication
3. noun

   sends a firework display high into the sky
   type of:

   firework, pyrotechnic

   (usually plural) a device with an explosive that burns at a low rate and with colored flames; can be used to illuminate areas or send signals etc.