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Webster 1913 Edition


Declivity

De-cliv′i-ty

,
Noun.
;
pl.
Declivities
(#)
.
[L.
declivitas
, fr.
declivis
sloping, downhill;
de
+
clivus
a slope, a hill; akin to
clinare
to incline: cf. F.
déclivité
. See
Decline
.]
1.
Deviation from a horizontal line; gradual descent of surface; inclination downward; slope; – opposed to acclivity, or ascent; the same slope, considered as descending, being a declivity, which, considered as ascending, is an acclivity.
2.
A descending surface; a sloping place.
Commodious
declivities
and channels for the passage of the waters.
Derham.

Webster 1828 Edition


Declivity

DECLIV'ITY

,
Noun.
[L. sloping.] Declination from a horizontal line; descent of land; inclination downward; a slope; a gradual descent of the earth, of a rock or other thing: chiefly used of the earth, and opposed to acclivity, or ascent; the same slope, considered as descending, being a declivity, and considered as ascending, an acclivity.
DECLI'VOUS,
DECLIV'ITOUS, a. Gradually descending; not precipitous; sloping.
DECOCT', v.t. [L. to boil.]

Definition 2024


declivity

declivity

English

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

Translations

References

  1. declivity” in Douglas Harper, Online Etymology Dictionary (2001).