climb

/klaɪm/

/klaɪm/

Other forms: climbed; climbing; climbs

To climb is to go higher. When you ascend a mountain, you climb it, and when a song rises in popularity, it climbs the charts.

To climb something generally takes hard work, which is clear when you watch a toddler climb a jungle gym or a mountaineer climb a sheer rock wall. You can also climb things metaphorically, like when a soldier climbs the ranks from corporal to major. Prices can climb too, when they get higher, and you can climb a social ladder when you meet well-connected people at parties. The Germanic root is klimban, "go up by clinging."

Definitions of climb

1. verb

   go up or advance
   “Sales were climbing after prices were lowered”

   synonyms: mount, rise, wax

   types:

   jump

   increase suddenly and significantly

   advance, gain

   rise in rate or price

   type of:

   increase

   become bigger or greater in amount
2. verb

   go upward with gradual or continuous progress
   “Did you ever climb up the hill behind your house?”

   synonyms: climb up, go up, mount

   types:

   scale

   climb up by means of a ladder

   escalade

   climb up and over

   ramp

   creep up -- used especially of plants

   mountaineer

   climb mountains for pleasure as a sport

   ride

   climb up on the body

   type of:

   arise, come up, go up, lift, move up, rise, uprise

   move upward
3. verb

   move with difficulty, by grasping
   types:

   clamber, scramble, shin, shinny, skin, sputter, struggle

   climb awkwardly, as if by scrambling

   type of:

   move

   move so as to change position, perform a nontranslational motion
4. verb

   slope upward
   “The path climbed all the way to the top of the hill”

   type of:

   incline, pitch, slope

   be at an angle
5. verb

   increase in value or to a higher point
   “prices climbed steeply”

   synonyms: go up, rise

   types:

   soar

   go or move upward

   bull

   advance in price

   type of:

   grow

   become larger, greater, or bigger; expand or gain
6. verb

   improve one's social status
   “This young man knows how to climb the social ladder”

   type of:

   advance, come along, come on, get along, get on, progress, shape up

   develop in a positive way
7. noun

   an upward slope or grade (as in a road)
   synonyms: acclivity, ascent, raise, rise, upgrade

   types:

   uphill

   the upward slope of a hill

   type of:

   incline, side, slope

   an elevated geological formation
8. noun

   an event that involves rising to a higher point (as in altitude or temperature or intensity etc.)
   synonyms: climbing, mounting

   type of:

   ascension, ascent, rise, rising

   a movement upward
9. noun

   the act of climbing something
   “it was a difficult climb to the top”

   synonyms: mount

   types:

   scaling

   ascent by or as if by a ladder

   clamber

   an awkward climb

   mountain climbing, mountaineering

   the activity of climbing a mountain

   rock climbing

   the sport or pastime of scaling rock masses on mountain sides (especially with the help of ropes and special equipment)

   escalade

   an act of scaling by the use of ladders (especially the walls of a fortification)

   Alpinism

   mountain climbing (not restricted to the Alps)

   type of:

   ascending, ascension, ascent, rise

   the act of changing location in an upward direction