slope

plural slopes

1. countableuncountableA surface that either inclines or declines in a regular manner from the perspective of an observer.

   the slope

   1 more example

   She looked down a slope, needing to squint for the sunlight, onto a vast sprawl of houses which had grown up all together, like a well-tended crop, from the dull brown earth...

   Thomas Pynchon, The Crying of Lot 49

2. countableuncountableAn area of ground that tends evenly upward or downward.

   a steep slope

   1 more example

   I had to climb a small slope to get to the site.

   Synonyms: bank, embankment, gradient, hill, incline, cant

3. countableuncountableThe degree to which a surface tends upward or downward.

   The road has a very sharp downward slope at that point.

   Synonyms: gradient, cant

4. countableuncountablemathematicsThe ratio of the vertical and horizontal distances between two points lying on the line.

   The slope of this line is 0.5

5. countableproscribedsometimesuncountablesee Usage notesmathematicsThe slope of the line tangent to the curve at the given point.

   The slope of a parabola increases linearly with x.

6. countableuncountableThe angle a roof surface makes with the horizontal, expressed as a ratio of the units of vertical rise to the units of horizontal length (sometimes referred to as run).

   The slope of an asphalt shingle roof system should be 4:12 or greater.

7. countableuncountablea concept or idea which suggests a type of oblique or accelerating progression

   The habit of lying can quickly become a slippery slope.

   2 more examples

   Not just confined to biking, once you loose that confidence or get knocked back either physically or mentally, it's a hard slope to climb back up...

   Dr. Ruth Anderson, The Cycling Mind

   The slope that leads toward insanity has the paradoxical distinction of being both steep and yet undetectable to the person sliding down it.

   Suzanne Rindell, novel, The Other Typist

8. countableethnicoffensivesluruncountablevulgarAn East or Southeast Asian person, especially one that is Chinese.
9. UKcountabledatedslanguncountableA hasty departure.

   "I did a slope," acknowledged the clerk frankly. "I broke all the records down that passage, I bet you. You'll laugh, I dare say, and think you would have stood, but you don't know what it was like. […]"

   1923, Ernest Bramah [pseudonym; Ernest Brammah Smith], “(please specify the page)”, in The Eyes of Max Carrados, London: Grant Richards, →OCLC

present singular third person slopes · participle present sloping · participle past sloped · past sloped

1. intransitiveTo tend steadily upward or downward.

   The road slopes sharply down at that point.

   2 more examples

   If the afternoon was fine they strolled together in the park, very slowly, and with pauses to draw breath wherever the ground sloped upward. The slightest effort made the patient cough.

   1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XXIII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC

   St. Lawrence Station is very prettily situated, high cliffs on the left, and the lush vegetation of the Undercliff sloping down to the sea on the right.

   1946 July and August, K. Westcott Jones, “Isle of Wight Central Railway—2”, in Railway Magazine, page 244

2. transitiveTo form with a slope; to give an oblique or slanting direction to; to incline or slant.

   to slope the ground in a garden; to slope a piece of cloth in cutting a garment

3. UKcolloquialusuallyTo try to move surreptitiously.

   I sloped in through the back door, hoping my boss wouldn't see me.

   1 more example

   She watched him disappear out of sight, before sloping back to her room.

   2009 October 29, David Walliams [pseudonym; David Edward Williams], Mr Stink, London: HarperCollins Children’s Books, →ISBN

4. governmentTo hold a rifle at a slope with forearm perpendicular to the body in front holding the butt, the rifle resting on the shoulder.

   The order was given to "slope arms".

comparative more slope · superlative most slope

1. obsoleteSloping.

   Down the slope hills.

   1667, John Milton, “Book IV”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC

   1 more example

   A bank not steep, but gently slope.

   1625, Francis [Bacon], “Of Gardens”, in The Essayes […], 3rd edition, London: […] Iohn Haviland for Hanna Barret, →OCLC

comparative more slope · superlative most slope

1. obsoleteslopingly

   So promis'd he; and Uriel to his charge Return'd on that bright beam , whose point now rais'd , Bore him slope downward to the sun

   1667, John Milton, “(please specify the page number)”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC