I Swear English › Vocabulary A–Z › Upside Down
What does ‘Upside Down’ mean?
Related forms: describes an orientation
“You'll have to turn the ketchup bottle, if you want to get the ketchup out”.
“The letter S looks the same upside down and the right way up”.
“If you hang upside down for too long all the blood rushes to your head”.
“Very often I write an address on an envelope only to discover that I have written the address upside down in relation to the flap”.
“I packed the shampoo upside down in my suitcase and it has leaked everywhere. (adverb)”.
“We hung the picture upside down. (adverb)”.
“We often use upside down in a figurative way to mean disorder or mess”.
“The office had been turned upside down, there were papers and broken glass everywhere”.
“The divorce turned my life upside down”.
“To turn upside down can be used to mean to look everywhere, to search thoroughly. Very often to turn inside out is used with the same meaning”.
“The police turned the town upside down looking for the missing child”.
“I turned my room upside down looking for my keys”.
“If you have something upside down, it could be used to mean that you are confused or have misunderstood something”.
“You have got my instructions completely upside down”.
Watch: ‘Upside Down’ explained
Video transcript
More from the Vocabulary A–Z
Keep building your word power — every word comes with examples and a short video: