Word.ws English Dictionary

upstate

Syllables: up·state/ˈʌp.steɪt/

upstate noun: the northern section of a state.

Noun

upstate (plural upstates)

  1. (US) The northern section of a state.
    Antonyms:
    downstate
  2. (US) The inland section of a state, particularly of South Carolina.
    Antonyms:
    Lowcountry
  3. A period during sleep when somebody is primed and ready to learn.
    Antonyms:
    downstate

Adjective

upstate (comparative more upstate, superlative most upstate)

  1. (US) Of the northern section of a state.
    • They went hunting in upstate New York.
    • Superintendent Chalmers: You call hamburgers "steamed hams"?
      Principal Skinner: Yes, it's a regional dialect.
      Superintendent Chalmers: Uh-huh? What region?
      Principal Skinner: Uh, upstate New York.
      Superintendent Chalmers: Really? Well, I'm from Utica and I never heard anyone use the phrase "steamed...1996 April 14, Bill Oakley, “22 Short Films About Springfield” (01:21 from the start), in The Simpsons, season 7, episode 21, spoken by Superintendent Chalmers and Principal Skinner (Hank Azaria and...

Adverb

UK/ʌpˈsteɪt/

upstate (comparative more upstate, superlative most upstate)

  1. (US) To the northern section of a state.
    • He drove upstate to visit his mother.

Examples of upstate in a sentence

  • In upstate New York, the Dutch continued to speak their language into the nineteenth century.
  • “We had to send li'l Spencer to the farm upstate, honey.
  • "You get tapped on another gun charge and you looking at some upstate time."

All 15 example sentences with upstate

Antonyms of upstate

Forms of upstate

Noun
pluralupstates
Adjective
comparativemore upstate
superlativemost upstate
Adverb
comparativemore upstate
superlativemost upstate

Origin of upstate

From up + state.

Words formed from upstate

Questions about upstate

What does upstate mean?
Upstate means the northern section of a state.
What part of speech is upstate?
Upstate can be a noun, an adjective or an adverb.
How do you pronounce upstate?
Upstate is pronounced /ˈʌp.steɪt/ (UK).
What is the plural of upstate?
The plural of upstate is upstates.

Words near upstate in the dictionary

  1. upstartles
  2. upstartling
  3. upstartness
  4. upstarts
  5. upstat
  6. upstate
  7. upstater
  8. upstaters
  9. upstates
  10. upstats
  11. upstay

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: upstate (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: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-upstate.wav.

Cite this entry: “upstate.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/upstate. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.