upside down
/ˌʌpsaɪd ˈdaʊn/
More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations
informal/ˌʌpsaɪˈdaʊn/
upside down adverb: inverted, so that the top is now at the bottom. Also the alternative letter-case form of Upside Down.
Adverb
upside down (not comparable)
- Inverted, so that the top is now at the bottom.
- The Union flag was flying upside down, a sign of danger.
- His hands were busy with his garments all this time: turning them inside out, putting them on upside down, tearing them, mislaying them, making them parties to every kind of extravagance.1843 December 19, Charles Dickens, “Stave Five. The End of It.”, in A Christmas Carol. […], London: Chapman & Hall, […], →OCLC, page 153
- Synonyms:
- bottom-upwards, topsy-turvy
- Antonyms:
- right side up
- In great disorder.
- The thief had turned the room upside down.
- Peaſe and beanes are as danke here as a dog and that is the next way to giue poore iades the bots: this houſe is turned vpſide downe ſince Robin Oſtler died.c. 1597 (date written), [William Shakespeare], The History of Henrie the Fourth; […], quarto edition, London: […] P[eter] S[hort] for Andrew Wise, […], published 1598, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i]...
Adjective
upside down (not comparable)
- Inverted; turned so that the top is at the bottom.
- The pattern resembled an upside down letter W.
- In great disorder.
- The wenches and the men have been on the streets all day, and the kitchen is upside down. You never saw the like.1901, Amelia Edith Huddleston Barr, The lion's whelp: a story of Cromwell's time, page 248
- Owing more money for something than it is worth; having negative equity.
- He's upside down on his mortgage.
- Synonyms:
- underwater
- Australian.
Proper noun capitalized: Upside Down
the Upside Down
- A dark and horrifying reality where the rules are different.
- This Upside Down economy was the product, Hansen said, of a shriveling population, the closing of the frontier and the maturing of industries.2019 August 13, Greg Rosalsky, “Is Our Economy In The Upside Down?”, in NPR, archived from the original on 01 Feb 2020
- It is in the upside down where we can find many opportunities to grow and learn.2022 September, Scott R. Sheehan, “The President’s Prose: Inside, Outside, Upside Down”, in Music Educators Journal, volume 109, number 1, →DOI, →ISSN, pages 7–10
Also used as
upside down is also the alternative letter-case form of Upside Down.
upside down meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Punjabi and Assamese
upside down in Hindi
- inverted
- उल्टा ulṭā, विलोमित vilomit
upside down in Tamil
- inverted
- தலைகீழாக talaikīḻāka
- in great disorder
- தலைகீழாக talaikīḻāka
upside down in Punjabi
- inverted
- ਪੁੱਠਾ puṭṭhā
upside down in Assamese
- inverted
- ওলোটা ülüta
More languagesFewer languages
- upside down in Tagalog
- tumbalik, tiwarik
- upside down in Malay
- terbalik
- upside down in Vietnamese
- lộn ngược, đổ lộn
Synonyms of upside down
Antonyms
- right side up
- right-side up
- rightways
Forms of upside down
| Adverb | |
|---|---|
| alternative form | downside up |
| alternative form | upside-down |
| alternative form | upsidedown |
| alternative form | up so down |
| Proper noun | |
| alternative form | upside down |
Origin of upside down
From Middle English up sid doun, an alteration of earlier upsadowne, upsedowne, up-so-doun (“upside down”), equivalent to up + so + down, literally “up as down”.
Coined by Stranger Things.
Words formed from upside down
Questions about upside down
- What does upside down mean?
- Upside down means inverted, so that the top is now at the bottom.
- What is upside down in Hindi?
- Upside down in Hindi is उल्टा (ulṭā), विलोमित (vilomit). See Upside down meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is upside down?
- Upside down can be an adverb, an adjective or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce upside down?
- Upside down is pronounced /ˌʌpsaɪd ˈdaʊn/.
Words near upside down in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: upside down (page history and authors); Upside Down (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-upside down.ogg.
Cite this entry: “upside down.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/upside_down. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.