swim upstream
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
to go against the majority or a strong opposition
Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt
Đi ngược lại đa số hoặc chống lại sự phản đối mạnh
Machine-translated — suggest a fix
Literally: to swim against the current of a river
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
She had to swim upstream to get her innovative idea accepted by the company.
AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)
Sources & notes
Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-31; pending editor spot-check.
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Common questions
What does “swim upstream” mean?
to go against the majority or a strong opposition Literally: to swim against the current of a river
Is “swim upstream” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.
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