steep1
- having an almost vertical slope or pitch, or a relatively high gradient, as a hill, an ascent, stairs, etc.
- (of a price or amount) unduly high; exorbitant: Those prices are too steep for me.
- extreme or incredible, as a statement or story.
- high or lofty.
- a steep place; declivity, as of a hill.
Origin of steep1
Examples from the Web for steeply
Contemporary Examples
That would be at least another couple percent of GNP, collected ideally through a steeply graduated consumption tax.
Historical Examples
Then he plunged down the steeply inclined trough after Fuller.
Vulcan's WorkshopHarl Vincent
It lay on a broken, steeply ascending ramp of a mountainside.
The White InvadersRaymond King Cummings
The surface is steeply inclined, but it is perfectly unbroken.
Fragments of science, V. 1-2John Tyndall
Daylight disclosed a steeply sloping beach, scarred with ravines.
World's War Events, Vol. IVarious
It flowed through a grassy hollow, with steeply sloping sides.
Robert FalconerGeorge MacDonald
steep1
- having or being a slope or gradient approaching the perpendicular
- (as noun)the steep
- informal (of a fee, price, demand, etc) unduly high; unreasonable (esp in the phrase that's a bit steep)
- informal excessively demanding or ambitiousa steep task
- British informal (of a statement) extreme or far-fetched
- obsolete elevated
Word Origin
steep2
- to soak or be soaked in a liquid in order to soften, cleanse, extract an element, etc
- (tr; usually passive) to saturate; imbuesteeped in ideology
- an instance or the process of steeping or the condition of being steeped
- a liquid or solution used for the purpose of steeping something
Word Origin
Word Origin and History for steeply
steep
adj.
"having a sharp slope," Old English steap "high, lofty," from Proto-Germanic *staupaz (cf. Old Frisian stap, Middle High German *stouf), from PIE *steup- "to push, stick, knock, beat," with derivations referring to projecting objects (cf. Greek typtein "to strike," typos "a blow, mold, die;" Sanskrit tup- "harm," tundate "pushes, stabs;" Gothic stautan "push;" Old Norse stuttr "short"). The sense of "precipitous" is from c.1200. The slang sense "at a high price" is a U.S. coinage first attested 1856. Related: Steeply; steepness.
steep
v.
"to soak in a liquid," late 14c., of uncertain origin, originally in reference to barley or malt, probably cognate with Old Norse steypa "to pour out, throw" (or an unrecorded Old English cognate), from Proto-Germanic *staupijanan. Related: Steeped; steeping.