hillock
Americannoun
noun
Other Word Forms
- hillocked adjective
- hillocky adjective
Etymology
Origin of hillock
First recorded in 1350–1400, hillock is from the Middle English word hilloc. See hill, -ock
Explanation
A hillock is a small mound of land that's often nearby a group of taller hills. Small children can rarely resist rolling down a grassy hillock. The word hillock was formed by adding the Old English diminutive -oc to hill, meaning "little hill." You can also call this small, ridged slope of land a knoll. You might sit in the shade of a hillock to eat your picnic lunch, or watch your dog scampering up and down hillocks covered in wildflowers. While you may get out of breath running up a hill, you'll scale a hillock with no problem.
Vocabulary lists containing hillock
"Coming of Age in the Dawnland," Vocabulary from the historical excerpt
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The Very, Very Far North
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Novel Study: The Dark is Rising
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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.
Father Luget, Mr Halliday says, claimed to have seen the light over a hillock in the rectory garden and to have seen the Crucifixion above it and the Virgin Mary kneeling before it.
From BBC • Jul. 16, 2023
WINTHROP, Okanogan County — On a rocky hillock crowned with lupine and yarrow, Methow Conservancy Executive Director Sarah Brooks surveyed the Sunny M Ranch on the eve of a historic land deal.
From Seattle Times • Jun. 16, 2023
In the afternoon, we reached the bottom and waited on a hillock for Aidano to drive us to Lengai Safari Lodge.
From New York Times • Apr. 17, 2023
Railway workers are planning to build a sandy hillock there where the badgers can dig their homes.
From BBC • Mar. 21, 2023
Wari camped atop Cerro Baul and a neighboring hillock, Cerro Mejia.
From "1491" by Charles C. Mann
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.
