acclivity

First attested in 1614. From Latin acclīvitās, from acclīvis (“ascending”), from ad + clīvus (“slope”).

• IPA^(key): /əˈklɪv.ə.ti/

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acclivity (plural acclivities)

1. (geomorphology) A slope or inclination of the earth, as the side of a hill, considered as ascending, in opposition to declivity, or descending; an upward slope; ascent.
   • 1797, Ann Radcliffe, The Italian:

     how gaily vineyards and olives alternately chequer the acclivities

   • 1891, Thomas Hardy, Tess of the d'Urbervilles:

     she would walk […] as far as to the point where the acclivity from the valley began its first steep ascent to the outer world.

   • 1912 January, Zane Grey, chapter 8, in Riders of the Purple Sage […], New York, N.Y., London: Harper & Brothers Publishers, →OCLC:

     Just below it leaned a tottering crag that would have toppled, starting an avalanche on an acclivity where no sliding mass could stop.