climber
Americannoun
-
climbers
plural
-
a person or thing that climbs.
-
a climbing plant.
-
a device to assist in climbing, as a climbing iron.
noun
-
a person or thing that climbs
-
a plant that lacks rigidity and grows upwards by twining, scrambling, or clinging with tendrils and suckers
-
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:
It is a big day for Scottish climber Laura Baillie who has completed the "full house" of the UK's highest peaks.
From BBC ● Aug. 23, 2026
A well-known amateur rock climber who had set at least two known speed-climbing records at Yosemite National Park died in a climbing accident at Sequoia National Park last week.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 10, 2026
But while Purja may be the most recognisable face, he was not the only famed climber in the disaster-hit expedition on Broad Peak.
From BBC ● Aug. 3, 2026
The avalanche struck on Thursday, cutting off contact with the international expedition led by Purja, a 43-year-old British-Nepali climber, on Broad Peak.
From Barron's ● Aug. 2, 2026
She was dressed like a rock climber, with a rope around her waist and a headlamp and everything.
From Absolutely Almost by Lisa Graff
But testimony from surviving members of the 1996 expedition and the location of the last radio contact with the climbers have now led authorities to believe the remains belong to Morup.
From BBC ● Aug. 8, 2026
The lime mountaineering boots worn by an Indian climber who died in 1996 have been a grim trail marker for many climbers on their way up the world's highest peak ever since.
From BBC ● Aug. 8, 2026
"While today marks an important milestone, three climbers remain missing," the club said.
From Barron's ● Aug. 5, 2026
The trees drew international attention in 2017, when professional climbers from 'The Tree Projects' in Australia came to Taiwan to photograph the Three Sisters in full.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 4, 2026
Once they came across a couple of discarded oxygen bottles, suggesting that the tents were near, but the climbers couldn’t locate them.
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.
