upstage

American  

[uhp-stayj] / 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

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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

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Etymology

Origin of upstage

First recorded in 1905–10; up- + stage

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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

Hegseth doesn’t upstage the boss and does what he’s told — and he’s not that bright.

From Salon ● Sep. 4, 2026

At the same time, Lego is walking a tightrope: The company wants to innovate to compete for children’s attention with platforms like YouTube, Roblox and Minecraft, but doesn’t want technology to upstage its core offering.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 18, 2026

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

From Barron's ● Jun. 9, 2026

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

My mother, who I thought had every right under the sun to bask in the glory of my success, was, on the contrary, willing to let my father upstage her.

From "Kaffir Boy: An Autobiography" by Mark Mathabane

Not one of them upstages Shakira, who’s playful or raw as each moment demands.

From New York Times ● Mar. 18, 2024

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

These are projected next to the prints, a juxtaposition that may please soccer fans but somewhat upstages the artworks.

From Washington Post ● Jan. 27, 2023

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

From BBC ● Mar. 17, 2022

“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

The Seahawks didn’t look like themselves against Chicago and got upstaged at home.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 5, 2026

This week, his younger brother upstaged him: He bought the Lakers.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 15, 2026

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

Nikai, 17, upstaged Sakamoto at the Milano Ice Skating Arena while Alysa Liu of the USA rounded out a powerful top three ahead of Thursday's free skate.

From Barron's ● Feb. 18, 2026

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

From "The Bluest Eye" by Toni Morrison

And of course, guests must avoid upstaging the bride.

From BBC ● Jul. 2, 2026

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

It was an amusing bit, with Mode totally upstaging Brosnan by calling the costume trophy the “most prestigious award” of the night, and referring to the actors as “models.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 20, 2025

However narratively motivated, this upstaging of Barbie effectively suggests that only the Kens of the world need their consciousness raised.

From New York Times ● Jul. 18, 2023

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