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upside-down

upside-down

30 1.8
Turned so the top is where the bottom normally is
  • adjective
  • /ˌʌpˌsaɪdˈdaʊn/
translation icon : boca abajo
  • There were several rows of bouquets hanging upside down to dry above the door to the back room.
  • turned upside-down

Flip your bowl upside down and let the dough plop out.

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Examples

  • When the cake is done, cool upside down for 1 1/2 hours, then remove from the pan.

    Fiction book (2000)
  • The furniture was upside down, the TV was smashed, everything.

  • So to my mind, my world had been turned upside down so completely.

  • So I was lying upside down at the hospital in the room.

  • Next thing you know, I just woke up upside down, car's still running.

  • The place was upside-down when I got there.

  • We are turning this place upside-down.

  • You're holding it upside down.

  • The sea was striped with violet, and the sky an upside-down ocean washed with the same water tones.

    Fiction book (1991)
  • After the storm, the furniture was left upside-down, making the room look chaotic.

Synonyms

upside down
vsupside-down
138 2.0

With the top where the bottom usually is

is the hyphenated form often used before a noun in compounds
the other way around
vsupside-down
102 3.2

In the opposite order, direction, or situation

applies specifically to top and bottom physical reversal rather than general order
upturned
vsupside-down
1 4.5

Something that has its bottom facing up, like a boat

is the hyphenated compound rather than a single short word for that position
turvy
vsupside-down
  • Archaic
1 9.9

Turned upside down so the top is at the bottom

is the hyphenated compound rather than this single-word variant
inverted
vsupside-down
4.8

Placed or turned so the top and bottom are swapped

is the hyphenated compound form rather than this single-word style

How Inverted

upside-down
30 1.8
tilted
2.5
leaning
4.2
upright
44 2.7

Surface Forms

upside-down positive
upside down positive

Morphology

upside-down = upside (transparent) = down + upside

The meaning is directly deducible from 'upside' (upper side) + 'down' (toward lower side): turned so the top is where the bottom normally is. [Postprocessing: moved 'down' from base_words to prefix]

Etymology

Upside-down comes from the three simple parts up, side, and down, literally saying the 'up' side is 'down'. So something that is upside-down has its 'top' and 'bottom' switched.