Link Centre Dictionary

upright

up·right

UK/ˈʌpɹaɪt/ US/ˈʌˌpraɪt/ fairly common informal slang uk
adjective (5) noun (2)

adjective

1.

in a vertical position; not sloping

  • “an upright post”
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2.

of moral excellence

  • “a genuinely good person”
  • “a just cause”
  • “an upright and respectable man”
  • “the life of the nation is secure only while the nation is honest, truthful, and virtuous” Frederick Douglass
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3.

erect in posture

  • “behind him sat old man Arthur; he was straight with something angry in his attitude”
  • “stood defiantly with unbowed back”
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4.

maintaining an erect position

  • “standing timber”
  • “many buildings were still standing”
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Antonyms
5.

upright in position or posture

  • “an erect stature”
  • “erect flower stalks”
  • “for a dog, an erect tail indicates aggression”
  • “a column still vertical amid the ruins”
  • “he sat bolt upright”
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noun

1.

a vertical structural member as a post or stake

  • “the ball sailed between the uprights”
Synonyms
2.

Origin

From Middle English upright, uppryght, upriht, from Old English upriht (“upright; erect”), from Proto-Germanic *upprehtaz, equivalent to up- + right. Cognate with Saterland Frisian apgjucht (“upright”), West Frisian oprjocht (“upright”), Dutch oprecht (“upright”), German Low German uprecht (“upright”), German aufrecht (“upright”), Swedish upprätt (“upright”), Icelandic uppréttur (“upright”).

Phrases

  • bolt upright
  • tuppenny upright
  • upright bass
  • upright bassist
  • upright man
  • upright yellow-sorrel

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WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.