UPWARDS

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does upwards mean? 

• UPWARDS (adverb)
  The adverb UPWARDS has 2 senses:

1. spatially or metaphorically from a lower to a higher position

2. to a later time

  Familiarity information: UPWARDS used as an adverb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• UPWARDS (adverb)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Spatially or metaphorically from a lower to a higher position

Synonyms:

up; upward; upwardly; upwards

Context example:

upwardly mobile

Antonym:

downwards (spatially or metaphorically from a higher to a lower level or position)

Sense 2

Meaning:

To a later time

Synonyms:

up; upward; upwards

Context example:

from childhood upward

 Context examples 

What's more, the results demonstrate a possible bizarre phenomenon that causes the oceans to "snow upwards."

(Ganymede may harbor 'club sandwich' of oceans and ice, NASA)

Apparently they were talking and laughing, though at that distance—upwards of a mile—I could, of course, hear no word of what was said.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

They all wanted to, from nine-stone Dutch Sam upwards.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

A short deep groove extending upwards from the lobus caudatus in the liver and lodges the vena cava.

(Fissure of the Inferior Vena Cava, NCI Thesaurus)

My Agnes is very young still; and mother and me will have to work our way upwards, and make a good many new arrangements, before it would be quite convenient.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

She had risen, as if impulsively, from where she lay on the sofa, and raised both her hands, palms upwards, as if lifting a weight.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

Around the edge of the lake, the ice will flex upwards to compensate.

(Surface lakes cause Antarctic ice shelves to ‘flex’, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

“Then read this,” quoth Sir Nigel, pointing upwards to one of the many quarterings which adorned the wall over the fireplace.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

When they came to the steps, leading upwards from the beach, a gentleman, at the same moment preparing to come down, politely drew back, and stopped to give them way.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

In lab experiments, bees can count upwards of five and can be trained to select the smaller or larger of two values.

(Scientists Discover Bees Can Count Using Only Four Brain Cells, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)