adj
Meaning 1
At the rear of a stage.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Examples
- The minimalist play used no upstage scenery.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Standard Lemma guide
upstage
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Pronunciation
Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.
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/ʌpˈsteɪd͡ʒ/
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US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
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Australia: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
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rhymes with -eɪdʒ
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CMU ARPABET: AH0 P S T EY1 JH Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
adj
Meaning 2
Haughty, aloof.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: figuratively, obsolete
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: airy, arrogant, chesty, authoritarian, biggity, big-headed, blustery, boastful, lordly, bombastic, buggish, cocky, conceited, disdainful, domineering, egotistical, entitled, flatulent, flaunting, full of oneself, glorious, grandiose, hankty, haught, haughty, haut, high-handed, high-hat, high and mighty, highfalutin, hoity-toity, holier-than-thou, hubristic, hubristical, imperious, inflated, insolent, la-di-da, orgulous, ostentatious, overbearing, overweening, pompous, presumptuous, pretentious, priggish, puffed up, sanctimonious, self-important, snobbish, snooty, snotty, stout, stuck up, supercilious, thrasonic, thrasonical, toploftical, toplofty, tumid, turgid, uppish, uppity, uppy, upstage, vain
Antonyms: none provided
adv
Meaning 3
Toward or at the rear of a theatrical stage.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Examples
- The actor turned and walked upstage.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
adv
Meaning 4
Away from the audience or camera.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 5
The part of a stage that is farthest from the audience or camera.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: uncountable
Topics: entertainment, lifestyle, theater
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
Meaning 6
To draw attention away from others, especially on-stage.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: figuratively, transitive
Examples
- She only wore that dress to upstage everyone.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: eclipse, overshadow
Antonyms: none provided
verb
Meaning 7
To force other actors to face away from the audience by staying upstage.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: transitive
Topics: entertainment, lifestyle, theater
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
Meaning 8
To treat snobbishly.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: broadly, transitive
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
Meaning 9
To restage upward; to restage (a case of a disease, usually a cancer) to a higher stage than that found at last assessment.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: transitive
Topics: medicine, sciences
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: downstage
adjective
Meaning 10
of the back half of a stage
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Examples
- she crossed to the upstage chair forcing the lead to turn his back to the audience
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: downstage
adjective satellite
Meaning 11
remote in manner
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Examples
- stood apart with aloof dignity
- a distant smile
- he was upstage with strangers
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: aloof, distant
Antonyms: none provided
adverb
Meaning 12
at or toward the rear of the stage
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Examples
- the dancers were directed to move upstage
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: downstage
noun
Meaning 13
the rear part of the stage
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: part, portion
verb
Meaning 14
steal the show, draw attention to oneself away from someone else
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Examples
- When the dog entered the stage, he upstaged the actress
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: outshine
verb
Meaning 15
move upstage, forcing the other actors to turn away from the audience
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: move, displace
verb
Meaning 16
treat snobbishly, put in one's place
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: treat, handle, do by
History
Etymology
From up- + stage. The figurative uses “haughty” and “to draw attention away” derive from actors moving to a higher and thus more visible position on a sloped stage.
Across languages
Translations
7 source translations are retained for this English entry.
- Chinese Mandarin: 搶風頭 /抢风头 (qiǎng fēngtóu) — to draw attention away from others
- German: die Schau stehlen — to draw attention away from others
- German: in den Schatten stellen — to draw attention away from others
- Russian: затмевать (zatmevatʹ) — to draw attention away from others
- Spanish: hacer sombra — to draw attention away from others
- Spanish: opacar — to draw attention away from others
- Spanish: ensombrecer — to draw attention away from others