downstream

adverb or adjective

down·​stream ˈdau̇n-ˈstrēm 

1

: in the direction of or nearer to the mouth of a stream

floating downstream

located two miles downstream

2

: in or toward the latter stages of a usually industrial process or the stages (such as marketing) after manufacture

improving profits downstream

downstream products

3

biochemistry : toward the end of a series of cellular processes : following a linked molecular event occurring in a sequence

But by looking downstream of the tumor suppressors [genes] at the proteins they influence, drug developers hope to find good targets.

—Marcia Barinaga

Examples of downstream in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Although Beulah fire personnel tried to rescue him, he was swept away downstream. — Christa Swanson, CBS News, 17 Aug. 2026

At this point water would no longer be able to flow downstream from the dam at all. — Laura Paddison, CNN Money, 16 Aug. 2026

Ace tracks Mandy’s scent further downstream where the rangers come up on an empty encampment. — Sabrina Reed, Forbes.com, 15 Aug. 2026

Indianapolis did not receive the heaviest rainfall from the storm, but floodwaters have moved downstream into the city from areas that saw between 6 and nearly 12 inches of rain, Braun said. — Nbc News, NBC news, 15 Aug. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1591, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for downstream

• abeam
• airstream
• bloodstream
• daydream
• esteem
• extreme
• grapheme
• hakim
• hornbeam
• lexeme
• mainstream
• midstream

Kids Definition

downstream

adverb or adjective

down·​stream ˈdau̇n-ˈstrēm 

: in the direction a stream is flowing

Medical Definition

downstream

adverb or adjective

down·​stream ˌdau̇n-ˈstrēm 

1

: in the same direction along a molecule of DNA or RNA as that in which transcription and translation take place and toward the end having a hydroxyl group attached to the position labeled 3′ in the terminal nucleotide

a nucleotide sequence located downstream from the regulatory gene

effects on the expression of downstream genes

compare upstream sense 1

2

: toward the end of a series of cellular processes : following a linked molecular event occurring in a sequence

But by looking downstream of the tumor suppressors [genes] at the proteins they influence, drug developers hope to find good targets.

—Marcia Barinaga, Science

The tyrosine kinase activity of phosphorylated EGFR [epidermal growth factor receptor] in cancer cells results in the phosphorylation of downstream proteins that incite cell proliferation, invasion, metastasis, and inhibition of apoptosis.

—Jonathan E. Dowell and John D. Minna, The New England Journal of Medicine