slope

Pluralslopes

Formsslopes, sloping, sloped

1. 1
   nouncountable

   An area of ground that rises or falls evenly in one direction.

   The hikers paused halfway up the slope to catch their breath.

   A gentle slope led down from the cabin to the lake.

   Similarincline, hill, hillside, rise, bank

   Note

   Ground is where the word starts. The noun was made from an older adjective and adverb, aslope, by clipping off its first syllable. It works both as a count noun (climb a small slope) and as a mass noun. Its natural partners describe how hard the ground is to walk: a steep slope, a gentle slope, a small slope on the way to the site.

2. 2
   nouncountable or uncountable

   The extent to which a surface is tilted up or down from the horizontal.

   Engineers measured the slope of the hillside before approving the road.

   A wheelchair ramp must have a gentle enough slope to be safe.

   Similargradient, incline, pitch, grade, steepness

3. 3
   verbintransitive

   To rise or fall steadily in one direction.

   Vineyards slope toward the southern sun across the whole region.

   The beach sloped gradually into the calm water.

   Similarslant, incline, fall, dip, shelve

   Note

   Here the ground does the moving, at least grammatically. The verb takes no object and almost always brings a direction with it: slopes sharply down, sloped upward, sloping down to the sea. A road, a beach or a stretch of vegetation is the subject. When a person shapes the incline instead, English switches to the transitive verb.

4. 4
   verbtransitive

   To give something a slanting direction, shaping it so that it inclines.

   Masons slope the windowsills outward to drain rainwater.

   The architect sloped the ceiling to create a dramatic effect.

   Similarslant, angle, tilt, incline, pitch

   Oppositelevel, flatten

5. 5
   nouncountable

   The ratio of the vertical change to the horizontal change between two points on a line.

   The slope of the line is two, meaning it rises two units for every unit across.

   A negative slope tells you the line falls from left to right.

   Similargradient

   Note

   Mathematics turns the hillside into a number: rise over run, written as the coefficient m in y = mx + b. The figure only means something against a fixed coordinate system, so the same line measured against different axes gives a different slope. In use it is almost always the slope of something, such as a line or a graph, and it is quoted as a bare number, as in a slope of 0.5.

6. 6
   nouncountable

   The steepness of a roof surface, given as the ratio of vertical rise to horizontal run.

   The contractor specified a 6:12 slope for the new garage roof.

   Steeper roof slopes shed rain and snow more efficiently.

   Similarpitch

   Note

   Roofers keep their own notation for the idea. They give rise first and run second, written as a ratio such as 4:12, rather than reducing it to one number as the mathematical ratio does. Specifications set minimums this way: an asphalt shingle roof should be 4:12 or greater. Run is the trade word for the horizontal length.

7. 7
   nouncountable

   The steepness of a curve at a given point, equal to the slope of the line tangent to the curve there.

   The slope of the curve at its peak is zero.

   Calculus lets you find the slope at any single point on a curving graph.

   Similargradient

   Note

   Calculus stretches the straight-line ratio to curves. At each point, the curve borrows the slope of its tangent line, which is the derivative evaluated there. Some careful writers object to the stretch and reserve slope for lines. The phrase "the slope of the tangent at this point" satisfies everyone, while "the slope of a parabola" is common but may draw a correction in strict mathematical writing.

8. 8
   verbcolloquialUKintransitive

   To try to move or leave quietly, so as not to be noticed.

   The boys would slope off to the pub the moment the boss left.

   He sloped quietly out the back door while the others argued.

   Similarsneak, slip, slink, steal, sidle

   Note

   A British colloquialism that almost never stands without a small word of direction: you slope in through the back door, slope off, or slope back to your room, as a character does in David Walliams's Mr Stink (2009). The tone is casual and faintly comic. It suits conversation and fiction but sounds out of place in a report.

9. 9
   verbtransitive

   To hold a rifle resting on the shoulder in a set drill position, the forearm holding the butt in front of the body.

   Recruits learn to slope arms smoothly during their first week of drill.

   The guard sloped his rifle and began the slow march.

   Note

   A word from the parade ground, heard mostly in the command "slope arms". The related noun is built into it too: the soldier holds the rifle at the slope, and the verb names bringing it there. Outside drill and military writing, it reads as a deliberate echo of the barracks.

10. 10
    nounethnicoffensiveslurvulgarcountable

    An offensive slur for a person of Chinese or other East Asian descent.

    Bigots called her a slope, a slur that wounded her deeply.

    Some veterans admitted they had once called local civilians slopes, a shame they later regretted.

    Note

    No context makes this one safe: it is vulgar and offensive wherever it appears. It is an ethnic slur aimed at people of Chinese or other East Asian descent, and its innocent neighbors in the dictionary do nothing to soften it. It belongs in writing only when the slur itself is being reported or discussed, and never as a way of describing anyone.

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