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:
That this was a question she had wrestled with, but when you see that you are off the cliff, it will become clear what you have to do.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 16, 2026
Bristol Myers Squibb is making a $4.1 billion bet on radiopharmaceutical cancer drugs ahead of a major patent cliff in 2028.
From Barron's ● Oct. 12, 2026
But as Freddie points out to her students, that cliff has always been there.
From Salon ● Sep. 24, 2026
Conservationists hope the move will provide a vital safeguard for the future of a plant that now survives in the wild as a single tree clinging to a cliff face.
From BBC ● Sep. 17, 2026
I struggled up the face of the cliff.
From "The Many Assassinations of Samir, the Seller of Dreams" by Daniel Nayeri
They played a lovely “The Unforgiven” and dedicated an exploratory take on “Orion” to Cliff Burton again, followed by Thin Lizzy’s “Whiskey In The Jar,” a major influence on their riffing.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 4, 2026
“I still have anxieties, but tending to the aging animals keeps me from obsessing over things that don’t matter. My pony, Cliff, is 38. Every day I have with him is a gift. It’s grounding.”
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 2, 2026
With customer order processing down, a financial blow is likely, said Cliff Steinhauer, director of information security and engagement at the National Cybersecurity Alliance, a nonprofit security training group.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 26, 2026
When officers arrived, they discovered the crash as well as a large fire that was "getting out of control very quickly", Bell County Sheriff's Office spokesman Cliff Coleman said.
From BBC ● Aug. 12, 2026
Be-fore leaving town, he told the pilot Cliff Hudson, whom he regarded as a friend, “I won’t be seeing you again.”
From "Into the Wild" by Jon Krakauer
"Learning how signs of ancient life show up in Earth rocks like these Scottish cliffs can help us understand the story of habitability and the potential for biosignatures to be preserved and detected on Mars."
From BBC ● Oct. 1, 2026
I’m at a point in my own life where much of my time is consumed by this very thought, facing forks in the road that feel more like cliffs.
From Salon ● Sep. 28, 2026
The site includes a central uplift as well as high cliffs displaying columnar jointing.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 22, 2026
She loved Caló des Moro, a beach nestled between steep cliffs.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 12, 2026
I made music in my own mind to go with the music of the cliffs.
From "Nory Ryan’s Song" by Patricia Reilly Giff
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
