upstage

American  

[uhp-steyj] / ˈʌpˈsteɪdʒ /

adverb

1. on or toward the back of the stage.

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adjective

1. of, relating to, or located at the back of the stage.

2. haughtily aloof; supercilious.

verb (used with object)

upstages, present (3rd person singular) upstaged, past participle, past upstaging present participle

1. to overshadow (another performer) by moving upstage and forcing the performer to turn away from the audience.

2. to outdo professionally, socially, etc.

3. to behave snobbishly toward.

noun

1. the rear half of the stage.

2. any stage position to the rear of another.

upstage British  

/ ˈʌpˈsteɪdʒ /

adverb

1. on, at, or to the rear of the stage

---

adjective

1. of or relating to the back half of the stage

2. informal haughty; supercilious; aloof

verb

1. to move upstage of (another actor), thus forcing him to turn away from the audience

2. informal to draw attention to oneself from (someone else); steal the show from (someone)

3. informal to treat haughtily

noun

1. the back half of the stage

Other Word Forms

Inflected Forms

Participles

• upstaging
  present
• upstaged
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• upstage
  simple
• upstages
  simple
• have upstaged
  perfect
• has upstaged
  perfect
• am upstaging
  progressive
• are upstaging
  progressive
• is upstaging
  progressive
• have been upstaging
  perfect progressive
• has been upstaging
  perfect progressive

Past

• upstaged
  simple
• had upstaged
  perfect
• was upstaging
  progressive
• were upstaging
  progressive
• had been upstaging
  perfect progressive

Future

• will upstage
  simple
• will have upstaged
  perfect
• will be upstaging
  progressive
• will have been upstaging
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of upstage

First recorded in 1905–10; up- + stage

Explanation

To upstage is to steal the show. If you try to upstage your Grease costar, you'll attempt to pull the audience's attention away from him and onto you at the back of the stage doing cartwheels. A child actor might accidentally upstage an adult simply by being adorable, or a minor character could upstage the star of a play with an amazing performance. When you upstage someone, the audience's focus shifts from that person to you. Another way to use the verb upstage is to describe the acting technique of moving back on the stage, away from the audience, so that another actor must turn her back toward them.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

upstage upstages upstaged upstaging

Experts aren’t too worried that SpaceX is going to upstage Anthropic and OpenAI.

From Barron's ● Jun. 9, 2026

Instead, there is smoke and vivid use of light—in the most dramatic sequences, such as the fire, a wall-size blaze of color angles forward from a bank of instruments on the floor upstage.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 22, 2025

On the day of the event, she said, she and her friends weren’t there to provoke Kirk, or to upstage him.

From Slate ● Oct. 30, 2025

Stanton: There are hundreds of fireflies in the background, on the video screens, upstage and scattered throughout the house.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 27, 2025

As the most famous, and controversial, woman in America, she did not want to draw attention to herself and upstage Marian Anderson.

From "The Voice That Challenged a Nation: Marian Anderson and the Struggle for Equal Rights" by Russell Freedman

Her bull-by-the-horns tenacity is seldom more evident than when she upstages Johnny Carson, a spotlight-grabbing moment that foreshadows her future career as a sports broadcaster.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 20, 2023

The setting also nearly upstages the bird in a painting of a kestrel perched on a finial atop an ornate building.

From Washington Post ● Jan. 13, 2023

It's not often a taoiseach upstages a US president, but that's what happened last night.

From BBC ● Mar. 17, 2022

His ride-along also upstages rival astro-tourism venture Blue Origin and its founder, Amazon mogul Jeff Bezos, in what has been popularized as the "billionaire space race."

From Reuters ● Jul. 11, 2021

“You should’ve read the article. They say she’s done so much with her part. Even though her scenes are brief, she upstages Douglas Fairbanks!”

From "The Red Car to Hollywood" by Jennie Liu

Even beyond the supermarket, it was common to use checks at malls, big-box stores or gas stations until the early 2000s, when they were ultimately upstaged by credit and debit cards.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 9, 2026

The singers were mostly upstaged by the visuals; only Ying Fang broke through with a forthright, gorgeously sung Pamina.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 8, 2026

But she was upstaged on that front by Pratt, who has portrayed both her and Bass as part of a failed City Hall establishment.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 1, 2026

At an estimated 19 years old, Larry has outlasted five prime ministers, upstaged visiting world leaders, and is currently living with his sixth housemate, Labour Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

From Barron's ● Feb. 15, 2026

Another sound enters but is upstaged by still another: the two circle each other and stop.

From "The Bluest Eye" by Toni Morrison

Nakai, 17, set the pace in the short programme on Tuesday, upstaging teammate Kaori Sakamoto, a three-time Olympic medallist.

From Barron's ● Feb. 19, 2026

In the television studio, Norwegian sports legends rebuked him for upstaging his teammate who won gold.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 13, 2026

Earlier, Mr Yousaf said he was "delighted" his predecessor was coming to the conference and dismissed suggestions she was upstaging him.

From BBC ● Oct. 16, 2023

During their first U.S. appearance, they shared a bill with Little Richard and the young guitarist he scolded for upstaging him, Jimi Hendrix.

From New York Times ● May 10, 2023

But that irritated Gov. Jerry Brown, who saw it as upstaging.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 27, 2023

Related Words

• overshadow