climber
Americannoun
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a person or thing that climbs.
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a climbing plant.
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a device to assist in climbing, as a climbing iron.
noun
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a person or thing that climbs
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a plant that lacks rigidity and grows upwards by twining, scrambling, or clinging with tendrils and suckers
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short for social climber
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of climber
late Middle English word dating back to 1375–1425; see origin at climb, -er 1
Explanation
A climber is a person who hikes up steep, rocky mountains and hills. If you want to be a mountain climber, you should start with small ones before tackling Mount Everest. Climbers pull themselves up the steep, craggy sides of mountains or practice on rock walls at the gym. A person who aspires to belong to a fancier social group is another kind of climber: "He's hanging out with the rich kids again — I didn't realize he was such a climber." When you're talking about plants, a climber is anything vine-like that grows up structures: "That rose is a climber. It'll cover your fence by the end of the summer."
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:
Pogacar has never had a weapon like del Toro: a virtuoso climber and all-round talent who may soon collect yellow jerseys of his own.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 10, 2026
Being a climber, I have a lot of strength that oust don’t have,” Haferling said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 8, 2026
That's how Hillary Dawa ended up accompanying two clients, British climber Chris Thrall and Polish climber Mariusz Chmielewski on his ill-fated trek up Mount Everest.
From BBC ● Jun. 10, 2026
On Wednesday, Chris Thrall, a climber and former British Royal Marine, posted a tribute on Instagram for the climbing guide, thinking he had died on the mountain.
From BBC ● Jun. 4, 2026
Caroline Mackenzie—an accomplished climber and physician in her late twenties—was the expedition doctor and, like Helen, would be going no higher than Base Camp.
From "Into Thin Air" by Jon Krakauer
The Chinese drone maker said this year it delivered thousands of pounds of supplies and hauled away more than 6,000 pounds of refuse generated by climbers.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 26, 2026
Having achieved their goal, Muñiz-Ochoa, Atkinson and two other climbers who followed them slid down the ropes to solid ground.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 19, 2026
Yet most climbers train obsessively for going up and barely prepare for coming down.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 16, 2026
On July 1, extreme climbers Angela Nikolau and Ivan Beerkus announced their engagement by scaling the Empire State Building and unfurling a banner from its famous antenna that proclaimed the healing power of love.
From Salon ● Jul. 8, 2026
Three climbers were already in the process of hauling themselves up the rope that I was preparing to descend.
From "Into Thin Air" by Jon Krakauer
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.
