Dictionary
Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.
upstage en · ADJ
Pronunciation
Etymology
From up- + stage. The figurative uses “haughty” and “to draw attention away” derive from actors moving to a higher and thus more visible position on a sloped stage.
Meanings
-
At the rear of a stage.
The minimalist play used no upstage scenery.
-
(figuratively, obsolete) Haughty, aloof.
If she hasn't time for this or that, if she refuses to make or keep appointments, if her face does not greet all comers with a sweet and charming smile, then the word is passed around that ‘So-and-So is getting high-hat and up-stage.’
1929 December, Betty Boone, “The Price of this Stardom”, in Screenland, page 22:
Forms
Synonyms
full of oneself · blustery · snooty · thrasonical · holier-than-thou · vain · tumid · uppity · turgid · conceited · hubristical · la-di-da · highfalutin · hubristic · chesty · boastful · stout · entitled · hoity-toity · buggish · high and mighty · disdainful · imperious · haught · priggish · flaunting · toploftical · overbearing · uppy · snotty · big-headed · haut · airy · high-handed · supercilious · uppish · pretentious · thrasonic · stuck up · inflated · biggity · pompous · ostentatious · orgulous · overweening · presumptuous · flatulent · puffed up · egotistical · insolent · bombastic · cocky · grandiose · self-important · domineering · hankty · arrogant · lordly · upstage · snobbish · turgescent · sanctimonious · authoritarian · haughty · toplofty · high-hat · glorious
upstage en · ADV
Pronunciation
Etymology
From up- + stage. The figurative uses “haughty” and “to draw attention away” derive from actors moving to a higher and thus more visible position on a sloped stage.
Meanings
-
Toward or at the rear of a theatrical stage.
The actor turned and walked upstage.
-
Away from the audience or camera.
Forms
upstage en · NOUN
Pronunciation
Etymology
From up- + stage. The figurative uses “haughty” and “to draw attention away” derive from actors moving to a higher and thus more visible position on a sloped stage.
Meanings
-
(uncountable) The part of a stage that is farthest from the audience or camera.
Coordinates
center stage · stage left · stage right · downstage
upstage en · VERB
Pronunciation
Etymology
From up- + stage. The figurative uses “haughty” and “to draw attention away” derive from actors moving to a higher and thus more visible position on a sloped stage.
Meanings
-
(figuratively, transitive) To draw attention away from others, especially on-stage.
Ronald Reagan’s peace plan for Nicaragua, which would have worked to his domestic political advantage even if it had failed, is upstaged by a surprise initiative by five Central American countries.
1987 August 17, “Peace Moves”, in Newsweek, volume 60, number 7, page 1:Although constantly upstaged by Miss Moore's vocal flings, Cary Grant brought the appropriate note of light comedy to his role.
1973, Jerry Vermilye, Cary Grant, New York: Galahad Books, →ISBN, page 56:But she did not want the name bell books—the persona or the idea in people's heads—to upstage bell hooks's ideas, and she understood that there is an unavoidable tension between the baggage a name can come to carry[…].
2023, Naomi Klein, “Meeting Myself in the Woods”, in Doppelganger: A Trip into the Mirror World, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, →ISBN:She only wore that dress to upstage everyone.
The romance and spectacle of the Olympics have been upstaged by the reality of the Olympics; both the Summer Games and the Winter Games are now as much big business as they are sport.
1996, Dave Anderson, The story of the Olympics, New York: W. Morrow, →ISBN, page 10:
-
(transitive) To force other actors to face away from the audience by staying upstage.
-
(broadly, transitive) To treat snobbishly.
-
(transitive) To restage upward; to restage (a case of a disease, usually a cancer) to a higher stage than that found at last assessment.
Almost one-third of patients were upstaged after re-exploration, three-quarters of whom actually had stage III disease.
1999, “Mismanagement of ovarian cancer by laparoscopy and laparotomy”, in Laparoscopic surgery in gynaecological oncology, Blackwell Science, →ISBN:
Forms
Antonyms
downstage
Deriveds
upstager
Synonyms
eclipse · overshadow
Translations (7)
cmn 搶風頭 /抢风头 (to draw attention away from others) · es hacer sombra (to draw attention away from others) · es opacar (to draw attention away from others) · de die Schau stehlen (to draw attention away from others) · ru затмевать (to draw attention away from others) · es ensombrecer (to draw attention away from others) · de in den Schatten stellen (to draw attention away from others)