| / English Dictionary |
DOWNHILL
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
A ski race down a trail
Classified under:
Hypernyms ("downhill" is a kind of...):
ski race; skiing race (a race between people wearing skis)
Sense 2
Meaning:
The downward slope of a hill
Classified under:
Nouns denoting natural objects (not man-made)
Hypernyms ("downhill" is a kind of...):
declension; declination; decline; declivity; descent; downslope; fall (a downward slope or bend)
Derivation:
downhill (sloping down rather steeply)
II. (adjective)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Sloping down rather steeply
Synonyms:
declivitous; downhill; downward-sloping
Classified under:
Similar:
descending (coming down or downward)
Derivation:
downhill (the downward slope of a hill)
III. (adverb)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Toward the bottom of a hill
Example:
running downhill, he gained a lot of speed
Classified under:
Sense 2
Meaning:
Toward a lower or inferior state
Example:
your performance has been going downhill for a long time now
Classified under:
Context examples:
Only land downhill from the aqueduct is irrigated; water is not pumped uphill.
(NASA Map Reveals a New Landslide Risk Factor, NASA)
Dark features on Mars previously considered evidence for subsurface flowing of water are interpreted by new research as granular flows, where grains of sand and dust slip downhill to make dark streaks, rather than the ground being darkened by seeping water.
(Recurring Martian Streaks: Flowing Sand, Not Water?, NASA)
It was fine open walking here, upon the summit; our way lay a little downhill, for, as I have said, the plateau tilted towards the west. The pines, great and small, grew wide apart; and even between the clumps of nutmeg and azalea, wide open spaces baked in the hot sunshine.
(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)
Farther downhill, farmers grow coconut palms, which require less irrigation and don't raise the water table as much.
(NASA Map Reveals a New Landslide Risk Factor, NASA)
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