cliff
noun
a high steep face of a rock.
cliff
1 American
[klif]
/ klɪf /
noun
-
cliffs
plural
-
a high steep face of a rock.
- Synonyms:
- crag, ledge, promontory, bluff
-
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.
Cliff
2
American
[klif]
/ klɪf /
noun
cliff
British
/ klɪf /
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of cliff
before 900; Middle English clif, Old English, cognate with Dutch, Low German, Old Norse klif
Explanation
A cliff is a steep and often sheer rock face. If you stand on the edge of a cliff and peer over, you'll be able to see the waves crashing on the rocks below. But if you don't watch your step, you could fall right off that cliff. So many action movies feature a scene in which a car chase leads to a car full of villains plunging spectacularly off a steep rock wall, or cliff. As the car hurtles over the edge of the cliff and smashes onto the rocks below, it invariably explodes in a shower of flames and a cloud of smoke.
Vocabulary lists containing cliff
Physical Geography - Introductory
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Physical Geography - Middle School
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Physical Geography - High School
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Tennille Amor, a singer-songwriter based in California, said she doesn’t consider herself a “Candace fan” — meaning she “wouldn’t follow her off a cliff or anything” — but she does respect Owens.
From Salon ● Aug. 26, 2026
Scientists have uncovered evidence that an enormous ancient cliff system may have helped expose the deepest rocks of the Grand Canyon nearly a billion years before the Colorado River began carving the landscape seen today.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 21, 2026
And just like supermarket shoppers, a CEO who walks into the store hungry—staring down a patent cliff with an empty pipeline—is far more prone to expensive, panic-driven mistakes.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 19, 2026
The car drove off a cliff on West Cliff Drive near Steamer Lane, a popular spot for local surfers.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 14, 2026
It wasn’t what I’d have imagined as a boy: a castle on a lonely cliff, scholars in robes rushing down stone stairways with heavy books.
From "The Bletchley Riddle" by Ruta Sepetys and Steve Sheinkin
The section of West Cliff Drive near where the accident took place was heavily damaged by high waves during the winter of 2023-24 and has been further degraded by ongoing coastal erosion.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 18, 2026
Resilience training: Perkins and her co-founders, including her now-husband Cliff Obrecht, envisioned turning Fusion Books into a design tool anyone could use.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 16, 2026
A trio of friends from Welwyn Garden City in Hertfordshire, who were camping at Cliff House Holiday Park, ended up sleeping in a cosy VW Golf on Wednesday night.
From BBC ● Aug. 1, 2026
Cliff, the daughter of the acting couple Michael Robbins and Hal Dyer, added that the service was "beautiful".
From BBC ● Jul. 28, 2026
When I go to warm his coffee again, Cliff says, "You really saw it?"
From "How It Went Down" by Kekla Magoon
My vista for this year’s eclipse was the cliffs of Mirador de Las Lomas, 45 minutes outside León, where a line of seekers snaked along the cliffside in either direction.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 23, 2026
“That is, they’re going to cliffs, they’re going to large trees, they’re flying over other eagle territories, and they’re looking for vacancies: ‘Does this male down below have a female with it?
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 21, 2026
It said there had been issues with a stallion on the cliffs who had repeatedly escaped through a pedestrian gate.
From BBC ● Aug. 21, 2026
Automated software often reported trees as being much taller than they really were, especially when they stood beside cliffs or sharp changes in elevation.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 4, 2026
They sat on the beach in the dark to study the stars, and climbed cliffs to see birds in their nests.
From "Nim’s Island" by Wendy Orr
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
