declivity
/dɪˈklɪvɪti/
declivity
English
Noun
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Definition
The downward slope of a curve.
Etymology
1610s, from French déclivité, from Latin declivitatem, dēclīvitās, from dēclivis (“a sloping downward”), from de (“down”) + clīvus (“a slope”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱleywo-, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱley- (“to lean”) (English lean).
Example Sentences
- "The Declivity was ſo ſmall, that I walked near a mile before I got to the Shore, which I conjectur'd was about eight a-clock in the Evening."
- "1780, Theodore Augustine Mann, A Treatise on Rivers and Canals, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, Volume 69: For the Year 1779, Part II, 582, The velocity of flowing waters is very far from being in proportion to the quantity of declivity in their bed: […] ."
- "[…]whoever takes the trouble of observing how the water runs longitudinally in the ruts on a convex road, although the declivity down the sides be incomparably greater than in the direction which it is compelled to take in the ruts, will soon see the propriety of constructing roads so as to have the water rim length-ways upon them, instead of attempting to gain a declivity, by making it run from the middle to the sides."
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