Slope Sləʊp Land Extra Examples Noun Town Built

• the town is built on a slope.
• down the slope and beyond the road lay the pacific ocean.
• he made his way up the slope from the station to the bus stop.
• a grassy slope

slope

1. a surface or piece of land that slopes (= is higher at one end than the other)
• The town is built on a slope.
• Down the slope and beyond the road lay the Pacific Ocean.
• He made his way up the slope from the station to the bus stop.
• a grassy slope

Extra Examples

• We clambered up the steep, rocky slope.
• a slope leading down to the river
• a west-facing slope overlooking the river
2. an area of land that is part of a mountain or hill
• the eastern slopes of the Andes
• ski slopes
• We camped on an open mountain slope.
• He spends all winter on the slopes (= skiing).
• There were more skiers further up the slope.
• There was now molten lava several hundred metres down the slope.

Extra Examples

• Rocks and boulders rolled down the slopes of the crater.
• The lower slopes rise quite gently.
• There was snow on the higher slopes of the mountain.
• The vineyards on the south-facing slopes get more sunshine.
3. the amount by which something slopes
• a steep slope
• a gentle slope
• a slope of 45 degrees
• Because of the slope of the roof, the snow cannot accumulate.
• the angle of slope

Extra Examples

• The football pitch has a slope of about one metre.
• The unemployment-income curve on the graph has a negative slope.
• Most of the city’s land has a slope of 30 degrees or more.
• The land rises in a gentle slope from the sea to the foot of the mountains.
4. a course of action that is difficult to stop once it has begun, and can lead to serious problems or disaster
• She realized he was on the slippery slope towards a life of crime.

Word Origin

• late 16th cent. (as a verb): from the obsolete adverb slope, a shortening of aslope. The use of the verb in sense 3 may be related to lope.