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Glite Dictionary
🌟 To outshine 🎭 Back of stage 🎭 To move back 😏 Aloof or distant 🎭 At back 🎭 Toward back
to upstage

to upstage

3 7.4
To move toward the back of the stage so other actors face away from the audience
  • verb
  • /ˈʌpˌsteɪdʒ/
  • Specialized
translation icon : moverse hacia el fondo del escenario
  • Accusations that Dantas's proposed reform would eliminate "transparency" from the privatization process forced Dantas to cancel his attempt to upstage Modiano.

Examples

  • They will attempt to stir up competition between Bill Clinton and President Obama by suggesting that Clinton will upstage Obama (tag from "education").

    Blog text (11)

  • The actor stepped upstage to avoid blocking the spotlight on his co-star.

  • And I'll sit far enough in the back so I don't upstage you.

    Sparkle (2012)

  • For me, I thought it looked like Obama was forced into the position and was upstaged by Biden.

    Blog text (10)

  • Dance upstage.

    A Chorus Line (1985)

  • She'd upstage me, really.

    Fiction book (1990)

  • Larger buildings were anonymous and recessive, upstaged and dematerialized by the displays.

    Academic text (1998)

  • (Flaubert enters, upstage.

    Fiction book (2001)

  • During the performance, she moved upstage so that the audience could see the main action clearly.

  • In the final scene, the lead character walked upstage to create a dramatic effect.

Antonyms

downstage
  • Specialized
4 6.3

At the front of a stage near the audience

How Noticed

to upstage
  • Specialized
3 7.4
to overshadow
48 5.9
to stand out
244 3.2
to blend in
20 3.7

Surface Forms

upstage infinitive
upstaged past
upstaged past participle
upstaging present participle
upstages third person singular

Etymology

Upstage (verb, theatre) comes from a stage trick: if an actor moved upstage the other actors had to turn away from the audience and lost eye contact. So to upstage someone in theatre is to make them face away and lose the audience's attention.