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

David Wicks, a local waterway advocate and educator, said the initiative ran out of steam, and no islands downstream of Maysville have joined the refuge. —Connor Giffin, The Courier-Journal, 23 Apr. 2024

When vertical jigging in large, deep rivers, the Fin-S Fish is best fished on the bottom while drifting downstream. —David A. Rose, Field & Stream, 20 Mar. 2024

Nearly 20 million cubic yards of sediment that should have flowed downstream were trapped behind the dams. —The Arizona Republic, 16 Feb. 2024

Samples taken downstream from the release showed elevated levels of some chemicals, but not at concentrations that would pose immediate risk to humans, EGLE officials said in a statement. —Keith Matheny, Detroit Free Press, 13 Feb. 2024

This erosion downstream of a dam can strip the bed of sand and gravel, resulting in a stream bed armored in much coarser rock, Warrick said. —Alka Tripathy-Lang, Ars Technica, 11 Jan. 2024

Then the group headed downstream to film another stretch. —Bill Laytner, Detroit Free Press, 11 Apr. 2024

The liquid nitrogen killed almost all of the aquatic life in a 60-mile stretch of the East Nishnabotna and Nishnabotna Rivers downstream of the spill—all the way to the confluence of the Nishnabotna with the Missouri River in the state of Missouri. —Sage Marshall, Field & Stream, 3 Apr. 2024

The larger river then flows around a tight U-bend before heading downstream. —Luke Ranker, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 2 Apr. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1591, in the meaning defined at sense 1

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