Aboveis a preposition (prep) or an adverb (adv).
Abovemeaning ‘higher than’
Abovemeans ‘higher than’. We usually use it when there is no contact between people or things:
[a doctor asks a patient]
Can you raise your hand[PREP]aboveyour head for me please?(Can you raise you hand higher than your head?)
The river flowed gently through the valley, while birds flew[ADV]above. It was a beautiful scene.
The opposites ofaboveareunder,belowandbeneath.
See also:
Over
Beneath
Aboveorover?
Measuring higher
We useaboveto talk about measurements and temperatures that are higher than a particular level:
Mexico City is 2,240 metresabovesea level.
Temperaturesabove25 degrees are rare in this part of the world.
As mentioned above: Referring back in writing
In formal writing, we often useabovenotbeforeto refer back to something we have already written about. We can useas mentioned above, as noted above, as demonstrated above, as shown above:
As noted above, all employees must take part in our health and safety course.
Not:As noted before…
As demonstrated above, this problem is very complex.
Not:As demonstrated before…
We can also saythe above. We only do this when the readers understand clearly whatthe aboverefers to:
Asthe table aboveshows, there has been a rapid rise in greenhouse gases.(orAsthe aboveshows …the reader understands thatthe aboverefers to the table)