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

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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

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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 extreme heat is driven by a persistent high-pressure ridge that has parked over the region, causing sinking warming air with very little overnight relief.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 6, 2026

Hike from ridge to reef Mason’s Travel tour company leads a guided hike through Mahé’s lush Morne Seychellois National Park to secluded Anse Major beach, followed by snorkeling at Cap Ternay Marine Park.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 29, 2026

In fact, a large roughly ellipse-shaped ridge made of rock appears prominently underneath the top layers.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 22, 2026

Israel has been intensifying strikes in the southern Nabatieh area after saying on Thursday that it had seized the strategic Ali al-Taher ridge from Hezbollah, a claim the Iran-backed group has not commented on.

From Barron's ● Sep. 7, 2026

“If you’re going back up the ridge, the next stop after the Pritchards’ is Cully Pone’s.

From "The Seven Wonders of Sassafras Springs" by Betty G. Birney

That low angle means crater rims, mountains, ridges, and even small surface bumps can block sunlight from reaching lower terrain.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 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

"It looked absolutely disgusting, like Sellotape with like little ridges in it," said the 42-year-old from Cardiff.

From BBC ● Jun. 30, 2026

This process created an orderly pattern of tiny ridges and valleys across the surface.

From Science Daily ● Jun. 17, 2026

I flew up the road, holding it so hard it made ridges in my palm.

From "Nory Ryan’s Song" by Patricia Reilly Giff

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

Tripe stew, nachos, even “mac” and cheese arrive with ridged, cut-up fried dough standing in for potatoes, tortilla chips, or pasta.

From Salon ● Dec. 6, 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

"Some look like bumped, ridged shields, others look like flat shovels," he said.

From Science Daily ● May 10, 2024

I ask, lifting my boot to see another ridged footprint.

From "Kwame Crashes the Underworld" by Craig Kofi Farmer

“These unusually strong ridging or troughing patterns will set up in different areas of the world and we just happen to be directly under it here,” Wheeler said.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 7, 2024

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 researchers found that there’s an increased risk of combined ozone and particulate matter pollution during atmospheric ridging events.

From Scientific American ● Jan. 6, 2022

In some sections, however, where the land is flat and full of water, ridging seems necessary if the land cannot be drained.

From Agriculture for Beginners Revised Edition by Charles William Burkett

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Related Words

• hill
• rim

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