Steepening

noun, verb

noun, verb ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    The process of becoming steeper.
Verb
  1. 1
    Present participle and gerund of steepen. form-of, gerund, participle, present

    "All three parallel valleys of the Llynvi, Garw and Ogmore are much the same in physical character: the lower reaches are wooded and not unattractive, but as the railway climbs on ever-steepening grades, the hills on either hand grow barer and closer together, while in all respects the scene becomes more sombre, with the terraced, slate-roofed colliery towns and the road, railway and river all struggling for space in the narrowing defiles."

Example

More examples

"All three parallel valleys of the Llynvi, Garw and Ogmore are much the same in physical character: the lower reaches are wooded and not unattractive, but as the railway climbs on ever-steepening grades, the hills on either hand grow barer and closer together, while in all respects the scene becomes more sombre, with the terraced, slate-roofed colliery towns and the road, railway and river all struggling for space in the narrowing defiles."

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.