Word.ws English Dictionary

ramp

/ɹæmp/

ramp noun: an inclined surface that connects two levels; an incline.

ramp: an inclined surface that connects two levels; an incline
Image: Britton, N.L., and A. Brown. 1913. Illustrated flora of the, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun (1)

ramp (plural ramps)

  1. An inclined surface that connects two levels; an incline.
  2. (Canada, US) An interchange, a road that connects a freeway to a surface street or another freeway.
    Synonyms:
    slip road
  3. A structure with an inclined surface made for stunts, as for jumping motorcycles or other vehicles.
  4. A mobile staircase that is attached to the doors of an aircraft at an airport.
  5. A way of hitting a boundary by facing the bat face front and pushing with force to launch the ball. 100% of it done against pace.
    • He hit three ramps in a row to push his team near the opponents total.
  6. A large parking area in an airport for aircraft, for loading and unloading or for storage (see also apron and tarmac).
  7. A surface inside the air intake of a supersonic aircraft which adjusts in position to allow for efficient shock wave compression of incoming air at a wide range of different Mach numbers.
  8. A construction used to do skating tricks, usually in the form of part of a pipe.
  9. A scale of values.
    • The RGB model uses the color component of light sources in order to produce more realistic and pleasant results. Internal color representations are always based on a palette-based color ramp.2003, Julio Sanchez, Maria P. Canton, The PC Graphics Handbook, page 915
    • We have created a volume ramp. Play the section in the Timeline and listen to the volume change.2013, Sam Kauffmann, Ashley Kennedy, Avid Editing: A Guide for Beginning and Intermediate Users, page 40
  10. A speed bump.
  11. (slang) An act of violent robbery.
  12. (slang) A deliberate swindle or fraud.
    • We are surely not meant to think of the sense of “ramp” (from 1819) that means a deliberate swindle or fraud, such as announcing that you have done more tests than you actually have because a third were just posted out.1819, Steven Poole, Steven Poole's word of the week
Show 3 more meaningsShow fewer meanings
  1. (Australia, slang) A search, conducted by authorities, of a prisoner or a prisoner's cell.
  2. (obsolete) A leap or bound.
  3. A concave bend at the top or cap of a railing, wall, or coping; a romp.

Verb

ramp (third-person singular simple present ramps, present participle ramping, simple past and past participle ramped)

  1. To behave violently; to rage.
    • Mick raged and ramped at the barred door till his voice failed,1938, Xavier Herbert, chapter XII, in Capricornia, New York: D. Appleton-Century, published 1943, page 196
  2. (slang, transitive) To swindle or rob violently.
    • In English slang, to ramp was to swindle or rob.[2002, William Safire, w:The New York Times Magazine
  3. (Australia, slang, transitive) To search a prisoner or a prisoner's cell.
  4. (intransitive, obsolete) To spring; to leap; to bound, rear, or prance; to move swiftly or violently.
    • Their bridles they would champe, / And trampling the fine element would fiercely rampe.1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto V”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 28
    • I've seen a ramping equestrian statue of General St. Clare on the Embankment.1911 January 7, G[ilbert] K[eith] Chesterton, “The Sign of the Broken Sword”, in The Innocence of Father Brown, London; New York, N.Y.: Cassell and Company, published 1911, →OCLC
  5. (intransitive, obsolete) To climb, like a plant; to creep up.
    • Lathyrus ſylveſtris flore luteo. Tare everlaſting. This ramping vvilde Vetch or Tare as the country people call it, becauſe it is the moſt pernicious herbe that can grovv on the earth, for corne or any other good herbe that it ſhall grovv by, killing and ſtrangling them: […]1640, John Parkinson, “Lathyrus. The Great Wilde Cicheling or Pease Everlasting.”, in Theatrum Botanicum: The Theater of Plants. Or, An Herball of a Large Extent: […], London: […] Tho[mas] Cotes...
    • With claspers and tendrils, they [plants] catch hold, […] and so ramping upon trees, […]they mount up to a great height.1691, John Ray, The Wisdom of God Manifested in the Works of the Creation. […], London: […] Samuel Smith, […], →OCLC
  6. (intransitive, obsolete) To stand in a rampant position.
    • And that lyon gaped wyde and came vpon hym raumppynge to haue slayne hym.[1470–1485 (date produced), Thomas Malory, “Capitulum i”, in [Le Morte Darthur], book IX (in Middle English), [London: […] by William Caxton], published 31 July 1485, →OCLC; republished as H[einrich]...
  7. (ambitransitive) To (cause to) change value, often at a steady rate.
    • If Q(t)lt;qᵖ then primary generation ramps up at maximal rate, subject to the constraint that Q(t) does not exceed this threshold.2007, Sean Meyn, Control Techniques for Complex Networks, page 285
    • The forces are ramped down gradually to ensure that element removal has a smooth effect on the model.2011, Sheng Liu, Yong Liu, Modeling and Simulation for Microelectronic Packaging Assembly
  8. To adapt a piece of iron to the woodwork of a gate.

Noun (2)

ramp (plural ramps)

  1. Any of species Allium tricoccum of plants related to the onion; a wild leek.
    • A ramp is a potently flavored wild scallion, a vegetable with staying power.2006, Su Clauson-Wicker, Off the Beaten Path West Virginia, volume 6, page 61
  2. (Appalachia, obsolete) A promiscuous man or woman.
    • And yet in the very next Canto she appears an arrant Ramp and a Tomrigg;[…]1728, John Dennis, Remarks on Mr. Pope's Rape of the lock. In several letters to a friend. With a preface, occasion'd by the late Treatise on the profound, and the Dunciad., London: J. Roberts, page...
  3. (Appalachia, derogatory) A worthless person.

Proper noun capitalized: Ramp

Ramp (plural Ramps)

  1. A surname from German.

ramp meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

ramp in Hindi

रैंप, रैम्प

ramp in Tamil

சறுக்காம்பாதை, சறுக்குவழி, கால்நடை ஏற்ற இறக்கப் படிக்கட்டு, சரிவுப் பாதை, சரிவுமேடை, சாய்வு

ramp in Marathi

रॅम्प, रांप, रॅम्प करण्यासाठी

ramp in Urdu

ریمپ, رامپ
More languagesFewer languages
ramp in Bengali
ঢালু রাস্তা, র্যাম্প
ramp in Telugu
రాంప్, ర్యాంప్
ramp in Malayalam
ചരിവ്, വിമാനത്തിൽ കയറാനും ഇറങ്ങാനുമുള്ള ഗോവണി, തുള്ളിച്ചാട്ടം
ramp in Kannada
ಇಳಿಜಾರು, ಇಳಕಲು, ಇಳಿವೋರೆ
ramp in Gujarati
રેમ્પ, રેમ્પ કરવા
ramp in Odia
ର୍ଯ଼ାମ୍ପ୍, ର୍ଯ଼ାମ୍ପ, ର୍ଯାମ୍ପ୍
ramp in Nepali
र्याम्प, रैंप, र्याम्प गर्न
ramp in Malay
tanjakan
ramp in Indonesian
rampa

Examples of ramp in a sentence

  • The bus was stuck at the stop as its wheelchair ramp wouldn’t retract after use.
  • The 5G development project will ramp up in the first quarter.
  • The skateboarder had a nasty wipeout as she came off the ramp.

All 40 example sentences with ramp

Synonyms of ramp

All synonyms of ramp

Forms of ramp

Noun
pluralramps
Verb
third-person singular presentramps
present participleramping
past participleramped
pastramped
Proper noun
pluralRamps

Past tense of ramp: ramped

Plural of ramp: ramps

Origin of ramp

From French rampe, from Middle French rampe, deverbal of ramper, from Old French ramper (“to crawl, climb, scale up”), from Frankish *hrampōn (“to contract oneself, wrinkle, rumple, crumple, curve”), from Proto-Germanic *hrimpaną (“to shrivel, shrink”). Cognate with German Rampf (“retraction, curvature, shrinkage, spasm”). Doublet of romp. Akin also to Old English ġehrimpan (“to wrinkle, rimple, rumple”), Old High German rimpfan (German rümpfen (“to wrinkle up”)). Compare Danish rimpe (“to fold" (archaic), "to baste”), Icelandic rimpa. More at rimple.

]See ramson.

Borrowed from German Ramp.

Words formed from ramp

Phrases with ramp

Words that rhyme with ramp

8 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about ramp

What does ramp mean?
Ramp means an inclined surface that connects two levels; an incline.
What is ramp in Hindi?
Ramp in Hindi is रैंप, रैम्प. See Ramp meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is ramp?
Ramp can be a noun, a verb or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce ramp?
Ramp is pronounced /ɹæmp/.
What is the plural of ramp?
The plural of ramp is ramps.

Words near ramp in the dictionary

  1. ramosity
  2. ramotuberculate
  3. ramous
  4. Ramoutar
  5. Ramoutars
  6. ramp
  7. ramp along
  8. ramp ceremonies
  9. ramp ceremony
  10. ramp meter
  11. ramp meters

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: ramp (page history and authors); Ramp (page history and authors); ramp (Hindi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); ramp (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ramp (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); ramp (Urdu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); ramp (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ramp (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); ramp (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ramp (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ramp (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); ramp (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); ramp (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-ramp.ogg.

Cite this entry: “ramp.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/ramp. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.