upside down
/ˌʌpsaɪd ˈdaʊn/
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.00 in modern English
17
Scrabble Score
10
Letters
3
Syllables
9
Unique Chars
Meaning
adv
Inverted, so that the top is now at the bottom.
adj
Inverted; turned so that the top is at the bottom.
name
Alternative letter-case form of Upside Down.
name
A dark and horrifying reality where the rules are different.
Example Sentences
- "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."
- "For, suddenly, I saw you there / And through foggy London town / The sun was shining upside down!"
- "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."
- "The pattern resembled an upside down letter W."
Etymology
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”.
Origin
Word Breakdown
Usage
Inflected Forms
downside up (alternative)
upside-down (alternative)
upsidedown (alternative)
up so down (alternative)
the upside down (canonical)