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upriver

American

[uhp-riv-er] / ˈʌpˈrɪv ər /

adverb

in the direction of or nearer the source of a river.

It's hard to paddle a canoe upriver; an upriver settlement of tribes.

upriver British

/ ˈʌpˈrɪvə /

adjective

towards or near the source of a river

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

noun

an area located upstream

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of upriver

An Americanism dating back to 1830–40; up- + river ¹

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.

See Examples For:

upriver

Port Kaituma is inland in the oil-rich Essequibo region, and the ferry travels along the coast in the Atlantic before heading upriver to reach its jungle destination.

From Barron's ● Jul. 19, 2026

A few miles upriver, at Lock 10 on the old canal, workers were busy removing boulders so they could eventually reach the damaged pipe.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 19, 2026

Whilst bears are generally solitary, this one was heading to feast with others on the glut of sockeye salmon migrating upriver from the Pacific to their origin lake to spawn.

From BBC ● Aug. 26, 2025

But 13 miles upriver from the park where he was jogging, the river began — at 3:10 a.m. — to rise 25 feet in just two hours.

From Salon ● Jul. 12, 2025

We went in silence for a stretch upriver.

From "Travels with Charley in Search of America" by John Steinbeck

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023