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

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

Go back again; make bee line up acclivity nearly as steep as side of house; find ourselves again on top of mountain.

From Mr. Punch in the Highlands by Various

Houses of the poorer sort straggle up its eastern acclivity, while the south and west faces remain as formed by nature, abrupt and precipitous.

From Nooks and Corners of the New England Coast by Samuel Adams Drake

Their horses were not Saladins, and the best of them had become blown in their gallop against the steep acclivity more than a mile in length.

From No Quarter! by Mayne Reid

With beating heart and throbbing pulse, Newbold himself bounded up the acclivity after the stranger, marking as he did so evidences of the other's prior ascent.

From The Chalice Of Courage A Romance of Colorado by Cyrus Townsend Brady

Constantinople, like haughty Rome, is built on seven hills—the houses being so disposed that they do not intercept the view commanded by each on the amphitheatrical acclivities.

From Wagner, the Wehr-Wolf by George W. M. (George William MacArthur) Reynolds

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

Does it grow on steep acclivities, or does it seem to prefer gentle slopes or level ground?

From Narrative of the Circumnavigation of the Globe by the Austrian Frigate Novara, Volume III (Commodore B. Von Wullerstorf-Urbair,) Undertaken by Order of the Imperial Government in the Years 1857, 1858, & 1859, Under the Immediate Auspices of His I. and R. Highness the Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian, Commander-In-Chief of the Austrian Navy. by Karl Ritter von Scherzer

Above Quebec, the high promontory on which the upper town is built expands into an elevated plain, having towards the river the steepest acclivities.

From The International Monthly, Volume 5, No. 4, April, 1852 by Various

There are also in this vicinage numbers of small filthy one-storeyed huts or ranchos built of cane, which seem as though hanging to the acclivities, and are not intended to last any time.

From Narrative of the Circumnavigation of the Globe by the Austrian Frigate Novara, Volume III (Commodore B. Von Wullerstorf-Urbair,) Undertaken by Order of the Imperial Government in the Years 1857, 1858, & 1859, Under the Immediate Auspices of His I. and R. Highness the Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian, Commander-In-Chief of the Austrian Navy. by Karl Ritter von Scherzer