climb

American  

[klahym] / klaɪm /

verb (used without object)

• climbs,
  present (3rd person singular)
• climbed,
  past participle,  past
• climbing
  present participle

1. to go up or ascend, especially by using the hands and feet or feet only.

   She climbed up the ladder.

   Antonyms:

   descend

2. to rise slowly by or as if by continued effort.

   The car climbed laboriously to the top of the mountain.

3. to ascend or rise.

   The plane climbed rapidly and we were soon at 35,000 feet.

   Temperatures climbed into the 80s yesterday.

4. to slope upward.

   The road climbs steeply up to the house.

5. (of a plant) to ascend by twining or by means of tendrils, adhesive tissues, etc..

   The ivy climbed to the roof.

6. to proceed or move by using the hands and feet, especially on an elevated place; crawl.

   to climb along a branch;

   to climb around on the roof.

7. to ascend in prominence, fortune, etc..

   From lowly beginnings he climbed to the highest office in the land.

---

verb (used with object)

• climbs,
  present (3rd person singular)
• climbed,
  past participle,  past
• climbing
  present participle

1. to ascend, go up, or get to the top of, especially by the use of the hands and feet or feet alone or by continuous or strenuous effort.

   to climb a rope;

   to climb the stairs;

   to climb a mountain.

   Antonyms:

   descend

2. to go to the top of and over.

   The prisoners climbed the wall and escaped.

noun

• climbs
  plural

1. a climbing; an ascent by climbing.

   It was a long climb to the top of the hill.

   Antonyms:

   descent

2. a place to be climbed.

   That peak is quite a climb.

verb phrase

1. climb down

   1. to descend, especially by using both hands and feet.

      She climbed down from the treehouse and went to wash up for supper.

   2. Chiefly British. to retreat from a policy, opinion, position in a debate, etc..

      He climbed down from that argument once he saw that it was based on incorrect data.

2. climb the walls to become tense or frantic.

   After a week stuck inside the house, the kids were climbing the walls.

climb British  

/ klaɪm /

verb

1. to go up or ascend (stairs, a mountain, etc)

2. (often foll by along) to progress with difficulty

   to climb along a ledge

3. to rise to a higher point or intensity

   the temperature climbed

4. to incline or slope upwards

   the road began to climb

5. to ascend in social position

6. (of plants) to grow upwards by twining, using tendrils or suckers, etc

7. informal (foll by into) to put (on) or get (into)

8. to be a climber or mountaineer

---

noun

1. the act or an instance of climbing

2. a place or thing to be climbed, esp a route in mountaineering

Synonym Usage

Climb, ascend, mount, scale imply a moving upward. To climb is to make one's way upward, often with effort: to climb a mountain. Ascend, in its literal meaning (“to go up”), is general, but it now usually suggests a gradual or stately movement, with or without effort, often to a considerable degree of altitude: to ascend the heights; to ascend the Himalayas. Mount may be interchangeable with ascend, but also suggests climbing on top of or astride of: to mount a platform, a horse. Scale, a more literary word, implies difficult or hazardous climbing up or over something: to scale a summit.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• reclimb
  verb (used with object)
• climbable
  adjective
• half-climbing
  adjective
• nonclimbable
  adjective
• nonclimbing
  adjective
• unclimbable
  adjective
• unclimbed
  adjective
• unclimbing
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• climbs
  plural

Participles

• climbing
  present
• climbed
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• climb
  simple
• climbs
  simple
• have climbed
  perfect
• has climbed
  perfect
• am climbing
  progressive
• are climbing
  progressive
• is climbing
  progressive
• have been climbing
  perfect progressive
• has been climbing
  perfect progressive

Past

• climbed
  simple
• had climbed
  perfect
• was climbing
  progressive
• were climbing
  progressive
• had been climbing
  perfect progressive

Future

• will climb
  simple
• will have climbed
  perfect
• will be climbing
  progressive
• will have been climbing
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of climb

First recorded before 1000; Middle English climben, Old English climban; cognate with Dutch, German klimmen; akin to clamber

Explanation

To climb is to go higher. When you ascend a mountain, you climb it, and when a song rises in popularity, it climbs the charts. To climb something generally takes hard work, which is clear when you watch a toddler climb a jungle gym or a mountaineer climb a sheer rock wall. You can also climb things metaphorically, like when a soldier climbs the ranks from corporal to major. Prices can climb too, when they get higher, and you can climb a social ladder when you meet well-connected people at parties. The Germanic root is klimban, "go up by clinging."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

climb climbs climbed climbing

He was filled with ambition to see more of the country, write a spy thriller and literally climb more hills.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 28, 2026

Japan has historically offset much of what it pays on debt with income it earns on its enormous overseas investments, but that advantage is waning as domestic borrowing costs climb.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 27, 2026

However, he has previously stated his intention to only feature in the UK events, meaning he would only have three more opportunities to climb up the order of merit.

From BBC ● Aug. 25, 2026

During the climb, the pair, clad in black outfits with their faces covered, unfurled a banner that read: "When the power of love beats the love of power, the world knows peace."

From Barron's ● Aug. 24, 2026

Daisy said, “You’re always bragging what a good tree climber you are. Why didn’t you climb the tree and get the ribbons back for me?”

From "Summer of the Monkeys" by Wilson Rawls

Once the rocket climbs high enough that the surrounding atmosphere is no longer a threat, the fairing will no longer be needed.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 26, 2026

One challenge for Harvey, and all AI companies, is to lower the per-unit cost of AI as overall usage climbs ever higher.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 18, 2026

Now, home sellers in other parts of the nation are also finding it increasingly hard to sell their properties as inventory climbs.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 12, 2026

A Palestinian Civil Defense worker climbs onto a piece of heavy machinery to assist the operator in directing the recovery effort in the Tal Al-Hawa neighborhood on July 19.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 5, 2026

Cocoa happily climbs into my backpack, but Cleo hangs back with Junior.

From "The Manifestor Prophecy" by Angie Thomas

While prices and borrowing costs climbed, hard work, as measured in paychecks, couldn’t keep up.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 28, 2026

The biggest contributor was the energy sector as crude oil prices climbed, while manufacturing industries that are heavily reliant on energy inputs saw a lower operating surplus as costs rose.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 28, 2026

"One by one, we also climbed out through the driver's side," she said, recounting how she had then scrambled up a hill.

From Barron's ● Aug. 28, 2026

The new initiatives division, which includes overseas businesses, narrowed operating losses as revenue climbed 25% on progress in the company’s expansion abroad.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 28, 2026

And I checked again when I climbed into the passenger seat.

From "Bye Forever, I Guess" by Jodi Meadows

"As we were climbing up, we could hear what felt like explosions," she said, giving only one name.

From Barron's ● Aug. 28, 2026

"Even if it means having to give up on climbing the mountain together, leaving a child behind is unacceptable," one told him, according to Japan Today.

From BBC ● Aug. 22, 2026

Crude prices that help dictate those fuel costs are climbing again.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 20, 2026

Say you’re a 25-year-old climbing the ranks in a traditional career like sales or technology or nursing, and you’re thinking about how you’re going to attain the American dream.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 20, 2026

They walked all morning without stopping for food or water: crossing boggy valleys choked with chattering aspen; climbing hills darkened by ever-wakeful pines.

From "Wolf Brother" by Michelle Paver

Related Words

• ascend
• clamber
• go up
• mount
• rise
• scale
• soar
• top