acclivity

American  

[uh-kliv-i-tee] / əˈklɪv ɪ ti /

noun

• acclivities
  plural

1. an upward slope, as of ground; an ascent (opposed to declivity).

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acclivity British  

/ əˈklɪvɪtɪ /

noun

1. an upward slope, esp of the ground Compare declivity

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• acclivitous
  adjective
• acclivous
  adjective
• unacclivitous
  adjective
• unacclivitously
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• acclivities
  plural

Etymology

Origin of acclivity

1605–15; < Latin acclīvitās, equivalent to acclīv ( is ) steep ( ac- ac- + -clīvis, adj. derivative of clīvus slope) + -itās -ity

Explanation

An acclivity might be something to dread if you ride a bike a lot. An acclivity is an uphill slope, so you’ll have to pedal a little harder to get to the top. The word acclivity traces back to the Latin word acclivis, meaning “ascending,” which is a combination of ad-, meaning “toward,” and clivus, meaning “slope.” If you encounter an acclivity, it’s going to be all uphill until you get to the top. The opposite of an acclivity is a declivity, which has a similar Latin origin. In the case of declivity, it’s the de- prefix, meaning “down,” that moves things in the opposite direction and gives it the meaning of “downhill slope.”

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

acclivity acclivities

Here and there, as the horses go more slowly up a gentle acclivity, you turn round to reconnoitre a little, and find that there is a charming view behind.

From Notable Women Authors of the Day Biographical Sketches by Helen C. Black

To gallop horses already blown against that steep acclivity would have been to kill them.

From No Quarter! by Mayne Reid

Then the acclivity ends, and surmounting the roll of its brow a great flat wooded space, with here and there the distant hump of a mountain jutting against the sky, lies spread out in front.

From Fordham's Feud by Bertram Mitford

The road running up the steep acclivity was of no great width—nothing resembling the broad macadamised “turnpike” of modern times.

From The White Gauntlet by Mayne Reid

Declivity, de-kliv′i-ti, n. a place that declines, or slopes downward, opposite of acclivity: inclination downward: a gradual descent.—adjs.

From Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 1 of 4: A-D) by Various

Above, for many a league, the bank was guarded by an unbroken range of steep101 acclivities.

From The Conspiracy of Pontiac and the Indian War after the Conquest of Canada by Francis Parkman

Their homes are in the villages scattered round the edge of the great plain; not much elevated, as the paese in Corsica, but standing on gentle acclivities.

From Rambles in the Islands of Corsica and Sardinia with Notices of their History, Antiquities, and Present Condition. by Thomas Forester

She led the way by zigzag hill roads where they caught stinging blows from back-lashing branches and up steep, slippery acclivities.

From The Key to Yesterday by Charles Neville Buck

Their road lay around the head of St. Inigoe's creek, and soon became entangled in dark, woody ravines and steep acclivities which presented, at this hour, no small interruption to their progress.

From Rob of the Bowl, Vol. I (of 2) A Legend of St. Inigoe's by John P. Kennedy

One core-like ridge runs along the summit, branching off into numberless steep valleys and acclivities, down to the water's edge.

From Los Gringos Or, An Inside View of Mexico and California, with Wanderings in Peru, Chili, and Polynesia by H. A. (Henry Augustus) Wise