steep
/stiːp/
steep adjective: of a near-vertical gradient; of a slope, surface, curve, etc. that proceeds upward or downward at an angle approaching vertical.
Adjective
steep (comparative steeper, superlative steepest)
- Of a near-vertical gradient; of a slope, surface, curve, etc. that proceeds upward or downward at an angle approaching vertical.
- a steep hill or mountain; a steep roof; a steep ascent; a steep barometric gradient
- They will be called upon to deal with freight trains of up to 900 tons over gradients considerably steeper than those of the Central Section—for example, the frequent stretches of 1 in 100 between Victoria and the Medway towns—and their running to fast schedules will include the haulage of the...1959 March, “The 2,500 h.p. electric locomotives for the Kent Coast electrification”, in Trains Illustrated, page 123
- Expensive.
- Twenty quid for a shave? That's a bit steep.
- Synonyms:
- costly, pricey, spendy, 5-star, big-ticket, chargeful, cheap at half the price, costful, cost-prohibitive, fancy
- Difficult to access; not easy reached; lofty; elevated; high.
- Her ears and thoughts in steep amaze erected1596, George Chapman, De Guiana, carmen Epicum
- resulting in a mast or windshield angle that strongly diverges from the perpendicular.
- The steep rake of the windshield enhances the fast lines of the exterior.
Noun (1)
steep (plural steeps)
- The steep side of a mountain etc.; a slope or acclivity.
- It ended precipitously in a dark and narrow ravine, formed on the other side by an opposite mountain, the lofty steep of which was crested by a city gently rising on a gradual slope1833, Benjamin Disraeli, The Wondrous Tale of Alroy
- [L]ess scared, but not built for gazelle cavorting, so awkward on the steep that she had to take to hands and knees, and looked more like a monkey.1961, Xavier Herbert, Soldiers' Women, Netley, SA: Fontana Books, published 1978, page 98
Verb
steep (third-person singular simple present steeps, present participle steeping, simple past and past participle steeped)
Noun (2)
steep (countable and uncountable, plural steeps)
- A liquid used in a steeping process
- Corn steep has many industrial uses.
- A rennet bag.
steep meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Bengali and Telugu
steep in Tamil
- செங்குத்தான, நம்ப முடியாத, மிகு உயர்வான, செங்குத்து
steep in Urdu
- اندھادھند, چڑھائی, ڈھلوان, مشکل, نہایت, بھگونا
steep in Bengali
- খাড়া
steep in Telugu
- steep
- కోరు kōru
More languagesFewer languages
- steep in Malayalam
- കുത്തനെയുള്ള, കുത്തനെയുള്ളത്
- steep in Kannada
- ಸರಿ, ಕಡಿದು, ಕಡಿದಾದ, ಅತಿಶಯವಾದ
- steep in Malay
- cerun, curam
- steep in Thai
- ชัน chan
- steep in Vietnamese
- dốc, ngâm
Examples of steep in a sentence
- Up these steep walkways cannelured for footpurchase, the free passage of roaches.1979, Cormac McCarthy, Suttree, Random House, page 21:
- […] Category Two implement hitches and doubled high-traction agricultural tires hung four to each massive rear axle to breast the steepest, softest dune or guckiest swamp […]2010, Robert Beeman, No More Time for Sorrow, page 133:
- A Greek historian Phylarchus describes a white root indigenous to India that caused eunuchism when a person bathed in water in which the root was steeped.1961, Harry E. Wedeck, Dictionary of Aphrodisiacs, New York: The Citadel Press, page 123:
- In refreshing dews to steep / The little, trembling flowers.1820, William Wordsworth, Composed at Cora Linn, in sight of Wallace's Tower:
Synonyms of steep
20 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Antonyms
Forms of steep
| Adjective | |
|---|---|
| comparative | steeper |
| superlative | steepest |
| Noun | |
| plural | steeps |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | steeps |
| present participle | steeping |
| past participle | steeped |
| past | steeped |
Origin of steep
From Middle English steep, from Old English stēap (“high”), from Proto-Germanic *staupaz, from Proto-Indo-European *(s)tewp- (“to push, stick”). Compare Old Frisian stāp ("high, towering"; > Modern Saterland Frisian stiep (“steep”)), Dutch stoop (“grand; proud”), Middle High German stouf (“towering cliff, precipice”), Middle High German stief (“steep”)). The Proto-Indo-European root (and related) has many and varied descendants, including English stub; compare also Scots stap (“to strike, to forcibly insert”). The sense of “sharp slope” is attested circa 1200; the sense “expensive” is attested US 1856.
From Middle English stepen, from Old Norse steypa (“to make stoop, cast down, pour out, cast (metal)”), from Proto-Germanic *staupijaną (“to tumble, make tumble, plunge”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)tewb- (“to push, hit”). Cognate with Danish støbe (“cast (metal)”), Norwegian støpe, støype, Swedish stöpa (“to found, cast (metal)”), Old English stūpian (“to stoop, bend the back, slope”). Related to stoop.
Words formed from steep
Words that rhyme with steep
Questions about steep
- What does steep mean?
- Steep means of a near-vertical gradient; of a slope, surface, curve, etc. that proceeds upward or downward at an angle approaching vertical.
- What is steep in Tamil?
- Steep in Tamil is செங்குத்தான, நம்ப முடியாத, மிகு உயர்வான. See Steep meaning in Tamil.
- How do you use steep in a sentence?
- Up these steep walkways cannelured for footpurchase, the free passage of roaches.
- What part of speech is steep?
- Steep can be an adjective, a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce steep?
- Steep is pronounced /stiːp/.
Words near steep in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: steep (page history and authors); steep (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); steep (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); Steep (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); కోరు (Telugu) (page history and authors); steep (Malayalam, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); steep (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). 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-steep.ogg.
Cite this entry: “steep.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/steep. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.