uphill

Formsfurther uphill, farther uphill, furthest uphill, farthest uphill

Formsfurther uphill, farther uphill, furthest uphill, farthest uphill

Pluraluphills

Formsuphills, uphilling, uphilled

1. 1
   adverb

   Up a slope, in the direction of higher ground.

   The cyclists strained as the route bent uphill near the summit.

   Pushing the loaded cart uphill took both of them.

   Similarupward, upslope

   Oppositedownhill, downward

2. 2
   adjective

   Moving or directed up a slope or hill.

   The uphill section of the trail tested every rider.

   An uphill gradient slowed the train considerably.

   Similarascending, rising, upward, climbing

   Oppositedownhill, descending, downward

   Note

   Jerome K. Jerome's Three Men on the Bummel (1900) shows how easily this adjective slides into the noun for an ascending stretch. "There's a lot of uphill about a bicycle tour," one cyclist complains, and Harris answers, "So there is downhill." Railway writers leaned on the word too: O. S. Nock in 1947 judged an engine's uphill work on wet rails north of Dundee. Downhill is its natural partner throughout.

3. 3
   adjective

   Difficult and demanding sustained effort.

   Reforming the system proved an uphill challenge for the new mayor.

   They faced an uphill fight to clear their name in court.

   Similardifficult, hard, tough, arduous, laborious

   Oppositeeasy, effortless, simple

   Note

   Effort turned into terrain: the climb of the literal "going up" adjective becomes any job that pushes back. The sense lives mostly in fixed pairings such as uphill battle, uphill struggle, uphill fight and uphill task. Sports writing reaches for it readily, as when Phil McNulty wrote in 2022 that England "faced an uphill task" once Germany went ahead.

4. 4
   adverb

   In a manner marked by difficulty or strain.

   Progress went uphill all winter as the team fought one delay after another.

   The negotiations lurched uphill toward a fragile compromise.

   Similarlaboriously, arduously

   Oppositesmoothly, easily, effortlessly

5. 5
   adjective

   Situated up a slope or on a hill.

   The uphill pasture stays green longer into the summer.

   We rented a cabin on the uphill edge of town.

   Similarupper, upslope

   Oppositedownhill, lower

6. 6
   nouncountable

   A section of route that ascends a slope.

   The course featured a brutal uphill in its final mile.

   Cyclists dread the long uphill that follows the river bridge.

   Similarclimb, ascent, incline, rise

   Oppositedownhill, descent

7. 7
   verbtransitive or intransitive

   To ascend a slope under one's own power, typically on skis or a splitboard.

   Many tourers uphill at dawn to earn their descent.

   She likes to uphill the resort runs before they open to the public.

   Similarclimb, ascend, skin

   Oppositedescend

   Note

   Skiers and snowboarders made a verb of the adverb, and it carries the touring habit of earning your descent rather than riding a lift, often on climbing skins or a splitboard. It conjugates regularly as uphills, uphilling and uphilled. It can stand alone (uphilling at dawn) or take the slope as its object (uphilling the resort runs).

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