upstream

adverb or adjective up·stream \ˈəp-ˈstrēm\

: in the direction opposite to the flow in a stream, river, etc. : toward the source of a stream, river, etc.

Full Definition of UPSTREAM

: in the direction opposite to the flow of a stream

: in or to a position within the production stream closer to manufacturing processes <make most of its money upstream, selling cheap crude … to refineries — John Quirt>

See upstream defined for English-language learners

See upstream defined for kids

First Known Use of UPSTREAM

1681

Rhymes with UPSTREAM

abeam, agleam, airstream, berseem, beseem, bireme, blaspheme, bloodstream, centime, coal seam, cold cream, crossbeam, daydream, downstream, dream team, drill team, egg cream, esteem, extreme, French seam, grapheme, Gulf Stream, hakim, headstream, high beam, hornbeam, I beam, ice cream, inseam, jet stream, kilim, lexeme, live steam, low beam, mainstream, midstream, millime, millstream, moonbeam, morpheme, onstream, phoneme, pipe dream, redeem, regime, rhyme scheme, sealed-beam, sememe, sidestream, slipstream, sour cream, sunbeam, supreme, tag team, Tarim, third-stream, toneme, trireme, unseam, warp beam, wet dream

UPSTREAM Defined for Kids

upstream

adverb up·stream \ˈəp-ˈstrēm\

Definition of UPSTREAM for Kids

: at or toward the beginning of a stream <She rowed upstream.>

Medical Dictionary

upstream

adverb or adjective up·stream \ˈəp-ˈstrēm\

Medical Definition of UPSTREAM

: in a direction along a molecule of DNA or RNA opposite to that in which transcription and translation take place and toward the end having a phosphate group attached to the position labeled 5′ in the terminal nucleotide <a small coding sequence is located just upstream from each…gene—J. N. Goldman et al>—compare downstream