mountaineer
Americannoun
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mountaineers
plural
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an inhabitant of a mountainous district.
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a climber of mountains, especially for sport.
verb (used without object)
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mountaineers,
present (3rd person singular)
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mountaineered,
past participle, past
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mountaineering
present participle
noun
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a person who climbs mountains
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a person living in a mountainous area
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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mountaineersimple
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mountaineerssimple
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have mountaineeredperfect
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has mountaineeredperfect
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am mountaineeringprogressive
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are mountaineeringprogressive
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is mountaineeringprogressive
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have been mountaineeringperfect progressive
-
has been mountaineeringperfect progressive
Past
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mountaineeredsimple
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had mountaineeredperfect
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was mountaineeringprogressive
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were mountaineeringprogressive
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had been mountaineeringperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of mountaineer
Explanation
A mountaineer is a person who climbs or hikes mountains. If you live in Colorado and spend your weekends scaling peaks in the Rockies, you're a mountaineer. The term mountaineer might seem to imply a serious climber, like Tensing Norgay and Sir Edmund Hillary, the mountaineers who were the first, in 1953, to climb to the summit of Mt. Everest. You can also use this word, however, for a more casual hiker who does a little rock climbing and mountain hiking. In many European countries, the word alpinist is more common.
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:
“The most vulnerable thing you can do is to have a dream,” Chin, 52, an elite mountaineer, said in an interview.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 30, 2026
The latest death of Nepali climbers comes less than two months after six lost their lives on Broad Peak in Pakistan, including renowned British-Nepali mountaineer Nirmal Purja.
From BBC ● Sep. 27, 2026
Purja, who served with Britain's Brigade of Gurkhas before joining the Special Boat Squadron of the Royal Marines, broke multiple climbing records since becoming a full-time mountaineer and tour guide.
From Barron's ● Aug. 2, 2026
His record has since been broken by Norwegian mountaineer Kristin Harila, who climbed the 14 peaks in three months and one day in 2023.
From BBC ● Jul. 31, 2026
But it was my father, a weekend mountaineer, who taught me to climb.
From "Into the Wild" by Jon Krakauer
“Everest: The Other Side,” from filmmakers Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi, follows mountaineers Hilaree Nelson and Jim Morrison as they prepare to climb Everest’s north face and attempt an unprecedented ski descent.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 3, 2026
DNA analysis later confirmed them to be those of two mountaineers who went missing 34 years ago near the Weissmies mountain, police said.
From BBC ● Aug. 21, 2026
Some credit Purja for bringing Pakistan onto the radar of mountaineers through his feat of scaling the 14 peaks in just over six months, which was documented in a Netflix film.
From BBC ● Aug. 4, 2026
The U.S. is pushing an American drone to challenge China in a new race to support mountaineers, setting up an unusual superpower contest in one of the most remote areas of the world.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 26, 2026
After Messner and Habeler proved that Everest could be climbed without gas, a cadre of ambitious mountaineers agreed that it should be climbed without gas.
From "Into Thin Air" by Jon Krakauer
Peaking at over 4,000 metres, the Weissmies mountain - which the two men went missing in the vicinity of - is a popular mountaineering spot in the Saas Valley.
From BBC ● Aug. 21, 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
It is certainly true that tennis requires discipline and sacrifice, but is this country-club sport really more intense than, say, distance running, mountaineering or solo sailing?
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 3, 2026
"This is an unthinkable loss for our mountaineering community and for the nation," Fur Gelje Sherpa, the President of Nepal's mountaineering association posted on social media.
From Barron's ● Aug. 2, 2026
The five men were walking single file, which was smart, but they weren’t using a rope—a serious violation of mountaineering protocol.
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.
