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Glite Dictionary
upstater

upstater

1 7.3
A person who lives in a state's area away from the main city and often rural
  • noun
  • /ˈʌpˌsteɪtər/
  • US
: habitante del norte del estado
  • During summer, the upstaters flock to their lakeside cottages to escape the heat of the city.

Examples

  • As an upstater, I always felt a strong connection to the mountains and lakes of New York's countryside.

  • The difference is vast, and we upstaters and Long Islanders object strenuously to being included in the city's riff-raff.

    Blog text (20)

  • Many upstaters prefer to shop locally, supporting small businesses instead of city chains.

Surface Forms

upstater singular
upstaters plural

Morphology

upstater = upstate (semi-transparent) = up + state + er

The word is transparently formed with the agentive suffix -er, but the base 'upstate' is a regional lexical item rather than a fully general everyday phrase.

Etymology

Upstater comes from up- and state plus the ending -er, so it literally means 'a person from the up part of a state'. In places like New York, 'upstate' often means the more rural or northern area, so an upstater is someone who lives there.