| adv. | 1. | Toward the higher part of a stream; against the current. |
| Adj. | 1. | upstream - in the direction against a stream's current Antonyms: downstream - in the direction of a stream's current |
| Adv. | 1. | upstream - toward the source or against the current Synonyms: upriver Antonyms: downriver, downstream - away from the source or with the current |
| 2. | upstream - against the current; "he swam upstream" |
| (networking) | upstream - Fewer network hops away from a backbone or hub. For example, a small ISP that connects to the Internet through a larger ISP that has their own connection to the backbone is downstream from the larger ISP, and the larger ISP is upstream from the smaller ISP. |