cliff

¹ American  

[klif] / klɪf /

noun

1. a high steep face of a rock.

   Synonyms:

   crag, ledge, promontory, bluff

2. a critical point or situation beyond which something bad or undesirable may occur.

   The committee is right up to the cliff with no deal in sight.

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Cliff ² American  

[klif] / klɪf /

noun

1. a male given name, form of Clifford or Clifton.

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cliff British  

/ klɪf /

noun

1. a steep high rock face, esp one that runs along the seashore and has the strata exposed

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Other Word Forms

• clifflike adjective
• cliffy adjective

Etymology

Origin of cliff

before 900; Middle English clif, Old English, cognate with Dutch, Low German, Old Norse klif

Example Sentences

If you look at the trend line, the U.S. one has gone off a cliff faster than those other four.

From Slate • Mar. 30, 2026

Castro almost fell off a cliff in the early 1990s when he lost his Soviet patron, but he had moves then, and he made them.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 26, 2026

But does this carry any meaning for any real people, and will it be enough to stop us from pushing ourselves off the cliff?

From Salon • Mar. 25, 2026

“My strategy,” he once told an interviewer, “has always been to take my cause of the moment to the edge of the cliff and be prepared to go over the cliff if necessary.”

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 24, 2026

Razi considered the map and turned it around so that the cliff on the map pointed to the real cliff.

From "The Boy Who Met a Whale" by Nizrana Farook

Related Words

• bluff
• crag
• precipice
• wall