Declivity
[də-KLIV-ə-dee]
Part of speech: noun
Origin: Latin, early 17th century
1.
A downward slope.
Examples of Declivity in a sentence
"The landscape architect designed the garden to complement the natural declivity."
"There was no longer a creek, but the bridge still spanned over a large declivity."
About Declivity
Does your friend Clive know his name means "slope"? Thanks to this Latin root, "declivity" refers to a downward slope. But if you're walking the opposite direction, "acclivity" describes an upward slope. Coming or going, it's a matter of perspective.
Did you Know?
Have you ever described someone as having a proclivity for hard work? "Proclivity" and "declivity" share the same Latin root, "clivus," meaning "slope." And technically the prefixes "pro-" and "de-" both mean "down," but the usages of each word are different. "Proclivity" means "to have a tendency toward," and "declivity" means "a physical downward slope."
