climb

[ klahym ]
See synonyms for: climbclimbedclimbing on Thesaurus.com

verb (used without object)
  1. to go up or ascend, especially by using the hands and feet or feet only: to climb up a ladder.

  2. to rise slowly by or as if by continued effort: The car laboriously climbed to the top of the mountain.

  1. to ascend or rise: The plane climbed rapidly and we were soon at 35,000 feet. Temperatures climbed into the 80s yesterday.

  2. to slope upward: The road climbs steeply up to the house.

  3. to ascend by twining or by means of tendrils, adhesive tissues, etc., as a plant: The ivy climbed to the roof.

  4. 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.

  5. to ascend in prominence, fortune, etc.: From lowly beginnings he climbed to the highest office in the land.

verb (used with object)
  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.

  2. to go to the top of and over: The prisoners climbed the wall and escaped.

noun
  1. a climbing; an ascent by climbing: It was a long climb to the top of the hill.

  2. a place to be climbed: That peak is quite a climb.

Verb Phrases
  1. climb down,

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

    • to retreat, as from an indefensible opinion or position: He was forced to climb down from his untenable position.

  2. climb the walls. wall (def. 15).

Origin of climb

1
First recorded before 1000; Middle English climben, Old English climban; cognate with Dutch, German klimmen; akin to clamber

synonym study For climb

8. 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.

Opposites for climb

Other words from climb

  • climb·a·ble, adjective
  • half-climbing, adjective
  • non·climb·a·ble, adjective
  • non·climb·ing, adjective
  • re·climb, verb (used with object), re·climbed, re·climb·ing.
  • un·climb·a·ble, adjective
  • un·climbed, adjective
  • un·climb·ing, adjective

Words that may be confused with climb

Words Nearby climb

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use climb in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for climb

climb

/ (klaɪm) /


verb(mainly intr)
  1. (also tr often foll by up) to go up or ascend (stairs, a mountain, etc)

  2. (often foll by along) to progress with difficulty: to climb along a ledge

  1. to rise to a higher point or intensity: the temperature climbed

  2. to incline or slope upwards: the road began to climb

  3. to ascend in social position

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

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

  6. 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

Origin of climb

1
Old English climban; related to Old Norse klembra to squeeze, Old High German climban to clamber

Other words from climb

  • Related adjective: scansorial

Derived forms of climb

  • climbable, adjective

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