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upper

adjective · noun

Form of up , comparative of up.

Simple meaning

At a higher level, rank or position.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

uhper

Say the bold part a little louder.

US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈʌpɚ

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

adjective

  1. At a higher level, rank or position.

  2. Situated on higher ground, further inland, or more northerly.

noun

  1. That which is higher, contrasted with the lower.

  2. Someone with higher social standing

  3. A central nervous system stimulant that increases energy and decreases appetite; used to treat narcolepsy and some forms of depression

  4. A stimulant, such as amphetamine, that increases energy and decreases appetite.

  5. A senior student.

  6. Anything that cheers one up.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
A1 · Beginner (estimated)
Frequency
Common
Typical Use
General English

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: At a higher level, rank or position.

Used this way, upper is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.

Emotional tone
Neutral
Formality
Neutral
Intensity
Not strongly marked
How common
Moderately common
Connotation
No strong connotation
Usage feel
Neutral and straightforward

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

More ways to use upper

  • “I put the groceries on the upper shelf where they would be out of the way.”adjective

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

Leather

upper surfaceupper armupper part

Other combinations

upper limitupper classupper handupper lipupper house

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • upper berthnounCompound term

    The higher of two berths.

  • upper boundnounCompound term

    A number equal to or greater than any other number in a given set.

  • upper cannonnounCompound term

    Cannon that provides plate armor for the upper arm.

  • upper carboniferousnounCompound term

    From 310 million to 280 million years ago.

  • upper carboniferous periodnounCompound term

    From 310 million to 280 million years ago.

  • upper-case letternounCompound term

    One of the large alphabetic characters used as the first letter in writing or printing proper names and sometimes for emphasis.

Related words

Connected by subject or meaning, not by word formation.

  • uppercasenounRelated term

    One of the large alphabetic characters used as the first letter in writing or printing proper names and sometimes for emphasis.

Related Words

Connected to the same idea, not synonyms.

More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Synonyms

Sense: at a higher level or rank or position

superior

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.