upside down

adverb

1. with the upper part undermost.
2. in or into complete disorder; topsy-turvy:

   The burglars turned the house upside down.

upside down

adjective

1. usually postpositive; upside-down when prenominal turned over completely; inverted
2. informal.
   upside-down when prenominal confused; muddled; topsy-turvy

   an upside-down world

adverb

1. in an inverted fashion
2. in a chaotic or crazy manner

Derived Forms

• ˌupside-ˈdownness, noun

Other Words From

• upside-down adjective
• upside-downness noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of upside down¹

1300–50; re-formation ( upside ) of Middle English upsedoun, earlier up so doun ( up, so ¹, down ¹; sense of so obscure)

Word History and Origins

Origin of upside down¹

C16: variant, by folk etymology, of earlier upsodown

Example Sentences

Your life is turned upside down with one sentence.

From BBC

The mayor of Chiva, Amparo Fort, warned on Thursday that nearby there were still “hundreds of cars turned upside down and they will surely have people inside them”.

From BBC

A topsy-turvy game was turned upside down at its halfway point as the Dodgers exploited Yankees fielding errors in the top of the fifth inning to level the scores.

From BBC

Then, and without warning, the writers turned everything upside down.

From Salon

Two weeks later, that narrative has turned upside down.

From Los Angeles Times