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.

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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

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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

With yields at multidecade highs, investors have a built-in cushion, and those would have to climb another 75 basis points before returns are no longer positive, according to BlackRock.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 13, 2026

They moved to different parts of the island, swapping the beaches in the south to climb the volcanic Mount Batur in the north, and spending time in the cultural village of Ubud inland.

From BBC ● Oct. 10, 2026

"A lot of companies want to climb the mountain head-on and spend enormous energy to get there," Delgado-Aparicio said.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 10, 2026

To reach 10,000, the S&P 500 would have to climb almost 29% from Thursday’s closing level.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 10, 2026

You climb a steep hill, too steep for the dogs, so you get off the sled and push.

From "Black Star, Bright Dawn" by Scott O'Dell

Each workout was performed at 70% maximum capacity and consisted of 20 climbs, with 60 to 90 seconds of rest between climbs.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 8, 2026

That share climbs to roughly 70% by the time they’re in their 80s.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 29, 2026

Some investors caution that if the 10-year yields remain near 5.20% or climbs even higher, borrowing costs could begin to drag on risk assets and broader economic growth.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 25, 2026

In a recent survey of more than 5,500 people, commissioned by Citizens Advice, 36% adults said they were behind on at least one bill, but for those in their 20s that figure climbs to 57%.

From BBC ● Sep. 22, 2026

To make matters worse, the plant’s store of alarm pocket dosimeters, which let out a high-pitched two-tone alarm if the radiation level climbs too quickly, was largely wiped out by the tsunami.

From "Meltdown" by Deirdre Langeland

The precious metal Gold has tumbled as the dollar has rallied and bond yields have climbed.

From Barron's ● Oct. 12, 2026

In rural Modoc County, in California’s remote northeast corner, Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton donned a beige cowboy hat and climbed atop a horse.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 12, 2026

It was July in the Mojave Desert, and the thermometer climbed toward 110 degrees.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 10, 2026

The Daily Star declares "Tiger attack horror", and says the unnamed man was killed on Saturday after he climbed into a big cat enclosure at Yorkshire Wildlife Park.

From BBC ● Oct. 10, 2026

Mighta climbed the tower myself if I didn’t think I’d bring down the whole castle.”

From "Rump: The (Fairly) True Story of Rumpelstilskin" by Liesl Shurtliff

The park near Doncaster was closed over the weekend after reports of a man climbing down into the enclosure from a walkway on Saturday afternoon.

From BBC ● Oct. 12, 2026

As a video of the exchange showed, the number kept climbing: 240, 250, 260.

From Salon ● Oct. 11, 2026

As cartilage deteriorates, everyday activities such as walking, climbing stairs, and getting out of a chair can become increasingly painful.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 11, 2026

You’ve said there’s this idea in rock music that making an album needs to feel like climbing a mountain.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 9, 2026

Roz marched downhill toward them, but when she started climbing over a boulder, she knew she’d made a mistake.

From "The Wild Robot Protects" by Peter Brown

Related Words

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