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
-
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:
Purja, 43, who served with Britain's Brigade of Gurkhas before joining the Special Boat Squadron of the Royal Marines, has broken multiple climbing records since becoming a full-time mountaineer and tour guide.
From Barron's ● Jul. 31, 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
Renowned Nepali mountaineer Nirmal Purja is among 10 people missing after an avalanche in northern Pakistan where he was leading a climbing expedition, the country's alpine club said.
From Barron's ● Jul. 31, 2026
An experienced climber, Dawa Sherpa is also known as Hillary Dawa Sherpa after famed mountaineer Edmund Hillary.
From BBC ● Jun. 4, 2026
Oh, fleet rocket, your thunder wanders down the valleys, startling deer and mountaineer alike.
From "October Sky" by Homer Hickam
Shock and grief have hit members of the alpine climbing community with the President of Nepal's National Mountain Guide Association Tul Singh Gurung saying they had "lost a generation of accomplished mountaineers".
From Barron's ● Aug. 5, 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
Renowned climber Nirmal Purja and nine other mountaineers died in an avalanche while scaling a mountain in Pakistan on Thursday, Purja’s expedition company said Saturday.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 1, 2026
Pakistan rescue teams resumed a high-altitude search on Saturday for seven climbers missing after a powerful avalanche on one of the world's highest peaks, with the remains of three mountaineers recovered.
From Barron's ● Aug. 1, 2026
There were memoirs by Arctic explorers, fearless mountaineers, and deep-sea divers who braved the briny deep wearing those newfangled diving costumes.
From "The Long-Lost Home" by Maryrose Wood
Their fellow guides say their deaths deal a devastating blow to Nepal's mountaineering community.
From BBC ● Aug. 4, 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
"He was keen on making Nepal recognized in the world and developing our mountaineering sector."
From Barron's ● Aug. 2, 2026
Purja, 43, was born in Nepal and went on to join the British Army’s special forces before embracing mountaineering as his passion and career.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 1, 2026
Ziemer emphasized that this alarming death rate hadn’t been skewed upward by mountaineering accidents; the victims had been “just ordinary trekkers who never ventured beyond the established trails.”
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.
