cliff

(klĭf)

A high, steep, or overhanging face of rock.

[Middle English clif, from Old English.]

cliff′y adj.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

cliff

(klɪf)

(Physical Geography) a steep high rock face, esp one that runs along the seashore and has the strata exposed

[Old English clif; related to Old Norse kleif, Middle Low German klēf, Dutch klif; see cleave²]

ˈcliffy adj

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

cliff

(klɪf)

n.

a high, steep rock face; precipice.

[before 900; Middle English clif, Old English, c. Old Saxon, Old Norse klif, Old High German klep]

cliff′like`, adj.

cliff

A steep, erosion-resistant rock face, as in gorges and on some coasts.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun

cliff - a steep high face of rock; "he stood on a high cliff overlooking the town"; "a steep drop"

drop-off, drop

crag - a steep rugged rock or cliff

geological formation, formation - (geology) the geological features of the earth

precipice - a very steep cliff

cliff

noun rock face, overhang, crag, precipice, escarpment, scarp, face, scar, bluff The car rolled over the edge of a cliff.

Related words
like cremnomania

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

Translations

جُرْفجُرف، مُنْحَدَر صَخْري

útes

klintklippeskrænt

Klippe

γκρεμός

acantilado precipicio

kalliojyrkänne

falaise escarpement

litica

hamar, klettaveggur

dirupo faraglione roccia rupe scogliera

崖

낭떠러지

skardis

klints

klif

klippe knaus stup fjellskrent

urwisko

penhasco

скала

pečina

klippa

หน้าผา

kayalıksarp kayalıkuçurum

vách đá

峭壁悬崖

cliff

[klɪf]

A. N (= sea cliff) → acantilado m; [of mountain etc] → risco m, precipicio m

B. CPD cliff dweller N (US) (fig) persona que habita en un bloque

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

cliff

[ˈklɪf] n → falaise fcliff face cliff-face [ˈklɪffeɪs] n → flanc m de falaise

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

cliff

n → Klippe f; (along coast also) → Kliff nt; (inland also) → Felsen m; the cliffs of Cornwall → die Kliffküste Cornwalls; the cliffs of Dover → die Felsen von Dover

cliff

cliff dweller

n vorgeschichtlicher Höhlenbewohner im Colorado-Cañon

cliffhanger

n → Superthriller m (inf)

cliffhanging

adj conclusion → spannungsgeladen

clifftop

n → Felskuppe f; a house on a cliff → ein Haus oben auf einem Felsen

adj cliff walk → Spaziergang m → auf der Felskuppe; cliff scenery → Felsenlandschaft f

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

cliff

[klɪf] n → scogliera, rupe f

cliff

(klif) noun

a high steep rock, especially one facing the sea.

cliff

→ جُرْف útes klippe Klippe γκρεμός precipicio kalliojyrkänne falaise litica scogliera 崖 낭떠러지 klif klippe urwisko penhasco скала klippa หน้าผา kayalık vách đá 悬崖

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

To my right the bottom of the cliff was lost in the dense foliage of the forest, which terminated at its very foot, rearing its gorgeous foliage fully a thousand feet against its stern and forbidding neighbour.

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The launch was lowered, and five of us made a landing, getting a good ducking in the ice-cold waters in the doing of it; but we were rewarded by the finding of the clean-picked bones of what might have been the skeleton of a high order of ape or a very low order of man, lying close to the base of the cliff. Billings was satisfied, as were the rest of us, that this was the beach mentioned by Bowen, and we further found that there was ample room to assemble the sea-plane.

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The rock capped a high cliff; a stone dropped from its outer edge would have fallen sheer downward one thousand feet to the tops of the pines.

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But if ever a sprinter broke into smithereens all world's records it was I that day when I fled before those hide-ous beasts along the narrow spit of rocky cliff between two narrow fiords toward the Sojar Az.

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Our cave was the highest of all on the cliff, and we crept to the mouth and peered down.

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"Come hither, Alleyne," said Sir Nigel, walking back to the edge of the cliff which formed the rear of their position.

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It was a narrow strip of sand at the base of a part of the cliff that seemed lower than any we had before scanned.

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Cliff as came and built the big stables at the Warrens.

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Instead of beholding a verdant country, interspersed with fine houses, a straight line of yellowish cliff brought to our minds the coast of Patagonia.

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Both pinnacle and cliff were comparatively low--some five or six hundred feet, I should think.

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The day was unusually fine till the afternoon, when some of the gossips who frequent the East Cliff churchyard, and from the commanding eminence watch the wide sweep of sea visible to the north and east, called attention to a sudden show of `mares tails' high in the sky to the northwest.

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So to avoid any danger she always used to feed on a high cliff near the sea, with her sound eye looking towards the land.

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