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upper

UK/ˈʌpə/US/ˈʌpɚ/
adjectiveB2Very common — you will meet it every day · #2,203 of 15,258leans written

Upper means higher than the other part, or nearer the top. The one above.

It goes in front of a noun and has no comparative form, so an upper floor, the upper arm and the upper deck are all standard. It marks a great many pairs, since upper and lower divide bodies, buildings, rivers and chambers of parliament. There is a phrase about advantage in having the upper hand. The noun upper means the top part of a shoe above the sole.

Definitions of upper

  1. 1adjectiveupperSituated above the other part, or nearer the top.B2

    “The office is on the upper floor.”

Phrases it lives in

  • the upper hand — a position of advantage or control

Where it comes from

  1. Middle English

    upper

  2. English, today

    upper

From Middle English upper, from enm + up. Inherited from Middle English upper. by surface analysis, up + -er.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in A Man Called Ove

First appears in chapter 3 of A Man Called Ove.

Practise this word

upper in the wild

  • The Rajya Sabha, also known as Council of States, is the upper house of the Parliament of India, of which the Lok Sabha is the lower house.

    Rajya Sabha

  • According to this view, the upper class is generally distinguished by immense wealth which is passed on from generation to generation.

    Upper class

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

Related words

  • upper-class
  • get the upper hand
  • have the upper hand