This week we continue our vocabulary-building series, “The Closing Word.” Each week we provide a new word to help build your vocabulary and show you an example of how to use it.
This week’s closing word:
acclivity
Pronounced: (ah-CLIV-uh-tee)
Noun:
an upward slope or grade (as in a road)
From Vocabulary.com: The word acclivity traces back to the Latin word acclivis, meaning “ascending,” which is a combination of ad-, meaning “toward,” and clivus, meaning “slope.” If you encounter an acclivity, it’s going to be all uphill until you get to the top. The opposite of an acclivity is a declivity, which has a similar Latin origin. In the case of declivity, it’s the de- prefix, meaning “down,” that moves things in the opposite direction and gives it the meaning of “downhill slope.”
Example:
“The view from the veranda was splendid, owing to the acclivity leading to the home’s large lot.”
