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upside

noun

Simple meaning

The highest or uppermost side of anything.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

uhpsyd

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US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈʌpˈsaɪd

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.

noun

  1. The highest or uppermost side of anything

  2. The highest or uppermost side or portion of something.

  3. figurative

    A favourable aspect of something that also has an unfavourable aspect.

  4. finance

    An upward tendency, especially in a financial market etc.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
B2 · Upper Intermediate (estimated)
Frequency
Moderately Common
Typical Use
Neutral / general English

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: The highest or uppermost side of anything

Used this way, upside 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
Matter-of-fact
Usage feel
Neutral and straightforward

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

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

world upsideupside potentiallife upsideturning upsidehang upside

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Similar Words, What’s the Difference?

Close in meaning, but not always interchangeable.

  • top

    The highest or uppermost part of something.

  • top side

    The highest or uppermost side of anything.

  • upper side

    The uppermost side of anything.

Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • upside downadverbCompound term

    In an inverted manner.

  • upside-down cakenounCompound term

    Batter baked atop a layer of sweetened fruit then turned upside down so fruit is on top.

More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Synonyms

Sense: highest or uppermost side of anything

upper side

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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.