upward

[uhp-werd]

adverb

1. toward a higher place or position.

   The birds flew upward.

2. toward a higher or more distinguished condition, rank, level, etc..

   His employer wishes to move him upward in the company.

3. to a greater degree; more.

   fourscore and upward.

4. toward a large city, the source or origin of a stream, or the interior of a country or region.

   They followed the Thames River upward from the North Sea to London.

5. in the upper parts; above.

adjective

1. moving or tending upward; directed at or situated in a higher place or position.

upward

/ ˈʌpwəd /

adjective

1. directed or moving towards a higher point or level

adverb

1. a variant of upwards

Other Word Forms

• upwardly adverb
• upwardness noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of upward¹

before 900; Middle English; Old English upweard (cognate with Dutch opwaart ). See up-, -ward

Idioms and Phrases

Idioms

1. upwards of, more than; above.

   My vacation cost me upwards of a thousand dollars.

Example Sentences

Instead, they had to pay upward of tens of thousands of dollars to fix damaged septic systems, reinstall their own power poles and repave the asphalt melted from private roads.

From Los Angeles Times

But, perhaps the most unexpected sign of women's rugby's upward trend however, came nine days earlier in a sleek office campus in California.

From BBC

They vowed to remediate upward of 12,000 properties by January 2026 — within a year of when the deadly wildfires first broke out.

From Los Angeles Times

After that initial upward burst, the Skycrane then made an “aggressive descent” to 2,500 feet.

From Los Angeles Times

He began driving but has spent the past 16 years guarding buildings, a job that offers some security but little upward mobility.

From BBC

Related Words

• higher 
• skyward 
• uphill