declivity

English

Etymology

1610s, from French déclivité, from Latin declivitatem/dēclīvitās, from dēclivis (“a sloping downward”), from de (“down”) + clīvus (“a slope”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱleywo-, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱley- (“to lean”) (English lean).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA: /dɪˈklɪvɪti/

Noun

declivity (plural declivities)

1. (geomorphology) the downward slope of a hill
   • 1899, Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness, section 1

     A rocky cliff appeared, mounds of turned–up earth by the shore, houses on a hill, others with iron roofs, amongst a waste of excavations, or hanging to the declivity.

2. a downward bend in a path

Related terms

• decline

Translations

downward slope

• Finnish: alamäki (fi), lasku (fi)

• Italian: declivio (it) m
• Russian: склон (ru) (sklon) m , откос (ru) (otkós) m 

downward bend in a path

• Finnish: alamäki (fi), lasku (fi)

• Italian: declivio (it) m

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

Translations to be checked

• Bulgarian: склон, стръмнина (надолу)
• Greek: κλίση (el) (klísi) f , κατωφέρεια (el) (katoféria) f , κατηφόρα (el) (katifóra) f