downstream

Formsfurther downstream, farther downstream, furthest downstream, farthest downstream

Formsfurther downstream, farther downstream, furthest downstream, farthest downstream

Formsdownstreams, downstreaming, downstreamed

1. 1
   adverb

   In the direction in which a river or stream naturally flows.

   The fishermen paddled downstream toward the wider part of the river.

   Fallen logs were swept downstream after the heavy rain.

   Similardownriver

   Oppositeupstream, upriver

   Note

   The adverb does two jobs. With verbs of motion it gives a direction, as in paddling downstream or swept downstream. With verbs of being it gives a location, usually followed by from, as in she lives downstream from the dam. Like the literal adjective, it is graded with further and farther rather than with an ending.

2. 2
   adjective

   Positioned further along in the flow of a river, stream, bloodstream, or other fluid.

   Pollution from the plant reached the downstream wetlands in days.

   The surgeon traced the clot to a downstream blood vessel.

   Similardownriver

   Oppositeupstream, upriver

   Note

   The literal sense the rest of the word grows from: a plain compound of down- and stream. It describes whatever lies further along a current, in a river or a blood vessel alike. It takes no -er or -est ending. It is graded with a separate word instead, so a town lies further downstream or farther downstream than the dam, and one point can be the farthest downstream of all.

3. 3
   adjectivefiguratively

   Happening later than something earlier and usually caused or shaped by it.

   Cutting the budget created downstream problems for every department.

   Analysts warned about the downstream impact on local employment.

   Similarsubsequent, resulting, consequent, secondary

   Oppositeupstream

   Note

   The river picture turned toward cause and effect. Whatever sits downstream receives what flows from further up, just as the literal river sense receives water. It takes either of or from: input validation is downstream of input entry, and politics is downstream from culture. The energy industry uses it as a fixed business label. Its downstream segment, also called refining and marketing, is the final stage of the integrated process.

4. 4
   adjectivefiguratively

   Moving in the direction from a server to the client device.

   The router reported a downstream rate of 200 megabits per second.

   Video services depend on plenty of downstream bandwidth.

   Oppositeupstream

   Note

   Networking borrows the current to describe the direction data travels toward the person using it, from the server down to the client. The word mostly sits in front of traffic terms, as in downstream rate, downstream bandwidth and downstream traffic. A video service that sends far more than it receives depends almost entirely on this direction.

5. 5
   adjectivefiguratively

   Positioned along a DNA molecule toward its 3′ end.

   A mutation in the downstream sequence disrupted the protein.

   The promoter sits just before the downstream coding region.

   Oppositeupstream

   Note

   Molecular biologists give the DNA strand a current of its own, running toward the 3′ end. Downstream is the direction in which a gene is transcribed, so a sequence downstream of a start site is read after it. The word is relative and needs a landmark. In practice it nearly always takes of plus a reference point, as in downstream of the promoter or downstream of the start site.

6. 6
   verbtransitive

   To make a new version or patch available to the developers and users downstream who depend on the software.

   The maintainers downstream each fix once it passes testing.

   The project finally downstreamed the long-awaited update to its users.

   Similarrelease, ship

   Oppositeupstream

   Note

   Software developers borrow the river's direction here. The original project sits upstream, and the developers and users who rely on its work sit downstream. The verb is transitive, and its subject is the original team. What it moves is a version or a patch, so maintainers downstream a fix, and the fix is downstreamed to users. The forms are regular: downstreams, downstreaming, downstreamed.

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