ridge

American  

[rij] / rɪdʒ /

noun

ridges plural

1. a long, narrow elevation of land; a chain of hills or mountains.

2. the long and narrow upper edge, angle, or crest of something, as a hill, wave, or vault.

3. the back of an animal.

4. any raised, narrow strip, as on cloth.

5. the horizontal line in which the tops of the rafters of a roof meet.

6. (on a weather chart) a narrow, elongated area of high pressure.

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verb (used with object)

ridged, ridging

1. to provide with or form into a ridge or ridges.

2. to mark with or as if with ridges.

verb (used without object)

ridged, ridging

1. to form ridges.

ridge British  

/ rɪdʒ /

noun

1. a long narrow raised land formation with sloping sides esp one formed by the meeting of two faces of a mountain or of a mountain buttress or spur

2. any long narrow raised strip or elevation, as on a fabric or in ploughed land

3. anatomy any elongated raised margin or border on a bone, tooth, tissue membrane, etc

4. 1. the top of a roof at the junction of two sloping sides

   2. ( as modifier )

      a ridge tile

5. the back or backbone of an animal, esp a whale

6. meteorol an elongated area of high pressure, esp an extension of an anticyclone Compare trough

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verb

1. to form into a ridge or ridges

ridge Scientific  

/ rĭj /

1. A long narrow chain of hills or mountains.

2. See mid-ocean ridge

3. A narrow, elongated zone of relatively high atmospheric pressure associated with an area of peak anticyclonic circulation.

4. Compare trough

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• ridgelike
  adjective
• ridgy
  adjective
• unridged
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• ridges
  plural

Etymology

Origin of ridge

before 900; Middle English rigge (noun), Old English hrycg spine, crest, ridge; cognate with Dutch rug, German Rücken, Old Norse hryggr

Explanation

A ridge is a long, narrow, elevated strip of land or any raised strip or band. A ridge is a line that rises above what it is attached to. Think of a ridge as a combination between rim and edge. From the Old English hrycg, meaning “back of the man or beast” or “the top or crest” of something (combined, the senses mean “backbone”), ridge is often used for the beam that joins the parts of a sloping roof. Ridge also refers to the line formed by hills or mountains, as in the Blue Ridge Mountains. The Mid-Atlantic Ridge is made up of mountains that lie underneath the Atlantic Ocean.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

ridge ridges ridged ridging

The samples also contained gold-to-copper ratios well above those measured in fertile mantle and primitive mid-ocean ridge basalts.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 29, 2026

Cold noodles need a dressing with enough substance to coat every curve and ridge, but enough brightness to keep the bowl from feeling stodgy after a few hours in the fridge.

From Salon ● Jul. 8, 2026

In the San Gabriel Mountains, a blue wind phone stands on a foggy forest ridge near a roadside turnout in Wrightwood.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 6, 2026

The impact led to her noticing an unusual ridge in her breast - a symptom she later learned was linked to the disease, which accounts for about 15% of breast cancer diagnoses, according to researchers.

From BBC ● Jun. 17, 2026

A brain "address" can specify left or right hemisphere, the lobe, the nearest ridge or fold, and whether the location is on top or bottom, inside or out, and front or back.

From "Phineas Gage" by John Fleischman

The results show that broad elevated ridges, called rift flanks, develop along the sides of rift valleys when the rifts are geologically young.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 25, 2026

The facade has vertical ridges running down the side, which Diamond said was inspired by the ribs of Saguaro cactuses.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 12, 2026

Firefighters were seeking to contain the fire using preexisting features such as roads, ridges and trails rather than carving a fire line through the island’s sensitive ecosystems, he said.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 18, 2026

The oblong ugly vegetable with lizard-like ridges is dark green, holding secrets, grows on thin vines.

From Salon ● May 9, 2026

He looked at the elongated oval shape on the map again, noticing the seven ridges running along it lengthwise.

From "The Boy Who Met a Whale" by Nizrana Farook

For about $70, a plastic surgeon injected the ridged cartilage of her ears with a hyaluronic-acid filler that caused her ears to perk up.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 7, 2026

The curly, ridged shape is perfect for holding onto the thick cheese sauce.

From Salon ● Nov. 26, 2025

Some placentas have evolved to be disklike, some are leaf-shaped, some ring-shaped, heart-shaped; some are ridged, branched, labyrinthine, or weblike.

From Slate ● Sep. 7, 2024

The sponge pulls this off via its spiral, ridged outer surface that functions like a spiral staircase.

From Science Daily ● May 17, 2024

The dale ran like a stony trough between the ridged hills, and a trickling stream flowed among the boulders at the bottom.

From "The Two Towers" by J. R. R. Tolkien

Upper-level ridging will intensify on Thursday, but not before low clouds and patchy fog likely kick off the day again.

From Seattle Times ● Sep. 13, 2023

Applying a clustering technique to the 124 largest outbreaks, he found four patterns — and in all, there was mid-tropospheric high-pressure ridging centered over different portions of western North America.

From Washington Post ● Aug. 24, 2022

The new study doesn’t delve into why atmospheric ridging is happening more often, but some research suggests climate change is part of the reason.

From Scientific American ● Jan. 6, 2022

The frequency of these ridging patterns has increased significantly since 2000, according to the new research.

From New York Times ● Jan. 5, 2022

Hills came round encircling it entirely—dark land ridging up and lying away out, even to seaward.

From Sea and Sardinia by Lawrence, D. H. (David Herbert)

Related Words

• hill
• rim