atop
Americanadjective
preposition
adverb
preposition
Etymology
Origin of atop
Explanation
Use the adverb atop when something is on the top of something else. You could say, for example, "I'm standing atop of the chicken coop, getting ready to jump in that pile of leaves." The word atop is somewhat old fashioned, but it's still a good way to describe being at the very top of something. You might live atop of the highest hill in town, or enjoy looking out your window to watch birds land atop of the garage. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the word was spelled with a hyphen: a-top. It took its current form, atop, in the nineteenth century.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Father and son witnessed Europe's last total solar eclipse together in 1999 while stood atop St Agnes Beacon in Cornwall.
From BBC ● Aug. 9, 2026
National Public Radio’s Nina Totenberg wrote those words as the court’s term ended on June 30, stuck them atop a canned story, and pulled the editorial trigger.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 7, 2026
On the east side, the dam was build atop an ancient landslide of mica schist, a type of rock vulnerable to fracturing that would allow moisture to seep inside.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 6, 2026
Too many, I’d say, but slapping droning voiceovers atop expository visuals isn’t for me.
From Salon ● Aug. 6, 2026
She set her dirty boot in his hands, and he heaved upward, and she was up atop a pure-silver youngster.
From "Impossible Creatures" by Katherine Rundell
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
