cliff
(klɪf )
Word forms: cliffs
countable noun B2
A cliff is a high area of land with a very steep side, especially one next to the sea.
The car rolled over the edge of a cliff.
Synonyms: rock face, overhang, crag, precipice
Image of cliff
© Barbora Vysmekova, Shutterstock
Collocations:
cliff dwelling cliff edge cliff jump cliff ledge cliff path cliff rises cliff side cliff top cliff walk cliff wall climb a cliff coastal cliff craggy cliff dramatic cliff fall off a cliff granite cliff high cliff ice cliff jagged cliff limestone cliff red cliff rock cliff rocky cliff rugged cliff sand cliff sandstone cliff scale a cliff sea cliff sheer cliff steep cliff tall cliff towering cliff vertical cliff white cliff
Many cave, bank and cliff dwelling species of swallow nest in large colonies.
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Most of the cliff dwelling rooms are situated near the loop trail, typically slightly above the trail and immediately outside the loop itself.
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Moving in from dispersed farmsteads into community centers at pueblos canyon heads or cliff dwellings on canyon shelves.
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The cliff dwellings held about 740 rooms and ruins at the base of the cliff that likely held additional dwellings.
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When she returns to the cliff dwellings, she finds them in ruins.
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We freewheel down the long, curved hill towards the cliff edge, the wind in our faces.
Times, Sunday Times
One last foothold on the cliff edge, new beginnings carved from traumatic endings by the good, the hungry and the lucky.
Times, Sunday Times
With a compact plot on a cliff edge, the build was not without its challenges.
Times, Sunday Times
Last year two chief constables left within six months, with one warning that the cuts had left the force on a 'metaphorical cliff edge'.
Times, Sunday Times
Another leapt over a wall onto a cliff edge to get out of their way.
The Sun
With that one successfully done, we moved on to the cliff jump.
Times, Sunday Times
Take a guided tour and you'll have the chance to stop and explore deserted beaches, snorkel and cliff jump, too, 23.50 for half a day.
The Sun
People often come to the canyon to camp, build fires, party, swim, cliff jump and more.
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For example, the blue line introductory course takes your group along a relatively easy route involving climbing, swimming and cliff jumping.
Times, Sunday Times
Coasteering, cliff jumping and snorkelling too.
Times,Sunday Times
She had been stuck there for 45 minutes and the cliff ledge had actually gave way so she was hanging by her arms off tufts of grass.
Times, Sunday Times (2008)
Long leafless spikes of sea buckthorn lined the cliff path, coated in piccalilli-yellow lichen.
Times, Sunday Times (2017)
Austell was ahead of her, and had gained the place on the cliff path above the high water mark.
THE AMBASSADOR'S WOMEN (2002)
A stroll south on a dramatic cliff path takes you to a run of sheltered bays ideal for gentle bathing.
The Sun (2012)
Follow the cliff path to a stile at the top of the high cliff and to a second stile on the right.
Times, Sunday Times (2009)
At the western end of the island a hard, grey, limestone cliff rises 80 m above the lake's level (1,912 m above sea level).
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The sandstone cliff rises about 500 meters above the lower sandy flats to the south.
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Its verdant cliff rises into the blue, tinting the moon with its green.
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At first, they used wire cables anchored to the cliff side to load wood and stone onto the ships.
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The cave was a small opening on the cliff side.
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Some of them have been obliterated when people cut across the cliff side to level the ground and make space for their fields.
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His industrious nature assisted by his background in dry stone walling saw him clear the site and create massive stone galleries, pathways, cliff side gardens, and floral painted rock walls.
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Around the rear of the temple (on the cliff side), which faced and towered above the road, were about 55 pits for planting trees representing a sacred grove.
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Last night police were investigating witness claims that the plane circled several times before hitting the cliff top.
The Sun
We did a beautiful hike along a cliff top just as the sun was going down.
The Sun
She left her scarf on the cliff top as a marker before running to raise the alarm.
The Sun
Up on the cliff top, you can admire rather than cower at the power of the broiling sea below.
Times, Sunday Times
And you can have any treatment you want on any part of the island - on a cliff top, in your villa, on your favourite beach.
Times, Sunday Times
There were still a couple of hours of daylight left, so we decided on a cliff walk.
Times, Sunday Times
He walked off, terrifyingly, during a cliff walk.
Times, Sunday Times
If you are trying to catch the train you might walk in another way and if you are doing a day's cliff walk you might walk in another way.
Times, Sunday Times
Beach and cliff walks are nearby and the hotel can arrange more adventurous activities such as sea kayaking and rock climbing.
Times, Sunday Times
The cliff walks are literally breathtaking.
Times, Sunday Times
The cliff wall towers above you on your left.
Times, Sunday Times
Also, on the way up the staircase to the tomb, you can see on the cliff wall graffiti done by the workmen building the tomb.
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Less than an hour before the scheduled noon jump, a chain securing the ladder to the cliff wall snapped, breaking 15 feet from the ladder.
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A steep basalt staircase set into a crevice of the high red cliff wall leads to the top of the mesa.
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When it hit the cliff wall, it broke a hole through it, and water began to flow out of the lake.
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On one occasion neighbours spotted them climbing a cliff and called the emergency services.
Times, Sunday Times
If the tide's in, dash up to the promenade for teas or climb the cliffs for dazzling views.
Times, Sunday Times
Protestants took the city in 1588 by climbing the cliffs at night to open the gates.
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Determined, the coyote shakes it all off and climbs the cliff in sections, visibly straining himself.
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Using tent-pegs and strong flaxen lines, they climbed the cliff face at night, losing about 30 of their number during the ascent.
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A continuation of the coastal cliff, it juts out as a tall limestone peninsula, cutting off most of a small bay.
Times, Sunday Times
Nesting sites are along coastal cliff faces, as well as the artificial cliff faces created by apartment buildings with accessible ledges or roof spaces.
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This coastal cliff was supposed to have several 155mm artillery cannons aimed down at the beach.
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Rock doves, which haunt coastal cliffs, have a rolling triple 'oo-roo-coo'.
Times, Sunday Times
Rock pipits are also birds of coastal cliffs, or promenades in seaside towns, while the wintering water pipits stay mainly inland.
Times, Sunday Times
She told him that she was running a difficult, uphill route along a craggy cliff.
Times, Sunday Times
Walkers are required to don safety helmets and are secured to the rock face by a fixed cable as they ascend the craggy cliff face using steel ladders and bridges.
Times, Sunday Times
Craggy cliffs and caves high up were no better than a featureless stretch of pines on either side of the wideness of the river.
Times, Sunday Times
Fringing beaches and gentle turquoise waves gave way to undulating swell and craggy cliffs as we rounded the island's ocean side.
Times, Sunday Times
There's lots to do here thanks to the unique environment of craggy cliffs, dramatic beaches and rolling glens.
Times, Sunday Times
A stroll south on a dramatic cliff path takes you to a run of sheltered bays ideal for gentle bathing.
The Sun
The sculptor wished to capture the exact moment of his horse rearing at the edge of a dramatic cliff.
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The next 100 miles or so comprises dramatic cliffs, scalloped coves, spirited fishing villages, rustic fish restaurants and one stupendous sea view after another.
Times, Sunday Times
Walk past deserted beaches, dramatic cliffs and wild flower meadows.
Times, Sunday Times
Dramatic cliffs and empty beaches are just some of the sights.
Times,Sunday Times
It works, though, in the same way that a handkerchief deployed as a parachute will reduce your speed should you fall off a cliff.
Times, Sunday Times
Doomsayers have been warning that house prices were about to fall off a cliff for years.
Times, Sunday Times
Does another body happen to fall off the cliff?
Times, Sunday Times
There are those who expect trading to fall off a cliff.
Times, Sunday Times
It's only a matter of time, if you run so close to that ragged edge, until you fall off the cliff.
Christianity Today
Before it began, there was a boat ride around the granite cliffs of the park's forested coastline.
The Sun
Only granite cliffs, rising to the height of 50m ft, testify to the original rocky terrain of the region.
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Above the surface on both sides are 5,000-foot (1,500-m) granite cliffs.
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This was a small river which had several rapids, some with granite cliffs adjacent to them, in its upper reaches.
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They can be found in crevices and cracks of granite cliffs or in canyon edges.
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You know the experience on a really windy day, standing on the top of a high cliff?
Times, Sunday Times
After lunch, he returned to painting or joined his friends in exploring the island, mostly visiting the wild high cliff edges.
The Times Literary Supplement
Follow the cliff path to a stile at the top of the high cliff and to a second stile on the right.
Times, Sunday Times
The birds most often nest on high cliff faces, either above the ocean surf or behind or next to waterfalls.
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They found fishing equipment scattered on the high cliff above the bay.
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The fifth avoided that fate, but was instead abandoned in 2012 before it fell off an ice cliff.
Times, Sunday Times
For the same price you could also try mountaineering on the ice cliffs.
Times, Sunday Times
Its northerly aspect and the shelter provided by high ice cliffs protect against southerly winds.
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Ice cliffs, often withdrawing during recent decades to uncover new coves, beaches and points, form most of the coastline.
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Breeding colonies are usually located in areas where ice cliffs and icebergs shelter them from the wind.
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For more than 500 years, visitors shared the same seaborne view of jagged cliffs jutting from the sea like a crown of thorns.
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We saw kittiwake chicks, like grey pompoms scattered between the jagged cliffs, and seals swimming below.
Times, Sunday Times
Each spring, hundreds of thousands of birds descended on the forbidding islands, blanketing their jagged cliffs with eggs of all colors and sizes.
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It would also navigate around unexpected hazards like jagged cliffs.
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There were turrets, spires, old merchants' houses painted yellow and orange in neat rows, medieval fortifications along jagged cliffs on the other side of a gorge - all quite beautiful.
Times, Sunday Times
Built into the limestone cliff, to shelter from the mistral, the settlement of half-a-dozen buildings dates from the 17th century, with several later additions.
Times, Sunday Times
Then you follow the contours of an ancient limestone cliff, leading to the antechamber of the most astonishing art gallery in the world — freshly built, at vast expense.
Times, Sunday Times
Local media said that she had shouted before tripping over the craggy limestone cliff.
Times, Sunday Times
At the western end of the island a hard, grey, limestone cliff rises 80 m above the lake's level (1,912 m above sea level).
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There was a limestone cliff in the outfield that created havoc for outfielders and made baseball games exciting.
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A steep basalt staircase set into a crevice of the high red cliff wall leads to the top of the mesa.
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Here, red cliffs part to reveal a perfect crescent of multicoloured pebbles.
Times, Sunday Times
There are beautiful beaches under its famous red cliffs.
Times, Sunday Times
You'll spend five hours a day riding across a land of towering dunes and red cliffs, and nights camped beneath brilliant desert skies.
Times, Sunday Times
Red cliffs plunge from plateaus.
Times, Sunday Times
It rises on top of a 1,000ft rock cliff.
Times, Sunday Times
Sandy beaches, rock cliff lines and mangroves characterize the coastline area.
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It was lying on the side of a vertical rock cliff at the 13,000 to 14,000 ft. level.
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The tram stops inside a rock cliff which begins to collapse.
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He has shown bat-like capabilities and attribute, such as staying upside-down under a rock cliff, the taste for blood, having extremely sharp teeth, and being able to control bats.
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We found this really strange cave on the beach; a giant crack in the rough, rocky cliff.
Times, Sunday Times
While one coast has a rocky cliff, the other has a variety of beaches.
The Sun
It has deep waters with strong currents, rocky cliff faces, and narrow fjords.
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There are also numerous unnamed seasonal waterfalls running over the rocky cliff walls that can best be viewed during spring run off.
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Its shorelines are steep, rocky cliff faces with erosion gullies on the northern side.
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A 500m stretch of sand backed by rugged cliffs, it has crystal-clear waters, a number of coves and some sea caves to challenge divers.
Times, Sunday Times
They also found shipwrecks and rugged cliffs.
The Sun
Properties on the seafront always command a premium — there are plenty of people willing to pay over the odds for a view of azure seas and rugged cliffs.
Times, Sunday Times
Wander along the rugged cliffs and discover glistening sandy coves, perfect for relaxing by the waves.
Times, Sunday Times
The new suites each have their own terrace overlooking the sea and rugged cliffs, along with wood-panelled walls and roll-top baths.
Times, Sunday Times
They go back first to the previous year's nest site, but sometimes they find that the sand cliff has already been knocked down, and the sand removed.
Times, Sunday Times
It has splendid beaches, arbutus groves, meadows, and sand cliffs.
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Where the geest borders the sea directly, sand cliffs exist.
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There it grows at an elevation of approximately 1850 m on sandstone cliff faces in shady conditions.
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The sandstone cliff rises about 500 meters above the lower sandy flats to the south.
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The grotto consists of a wind cave, six feet by three feet, that was cut out of a sandstone cliff.
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It grows on mossy sandstone cliff faces amongst dense vegetation.
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This headland feature includes a red sandstone cliff formation.
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It took them two hours to scale a cliff to find help.
The Sun
Under cover of darkness he used a rope ladder to scale a cliff and gain access to the aquarium's back door.
Times, Sunday Times
From the landside, only experienced mountain climbers with a trained local guide should attempt to scale the cliff.
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The rescuers warned people not to attempt to scale the cliffs as they can be crumbly and slippery.
Times, Sunday Times
One scaled a cliff to raise the alarm.
The Sun
He spends a night under canvas and climbs up a sea cliff.
Times, Sunday Times
It was created partially as a result of limestone quarrying of the sea cliff.
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The retreat of the sea cliff generates a shore (wave-cut/abrasion-) platform through the process of abrasion.
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Situated on a sea cliff, the district has been a popular vacation spot since the late nineteenth century.
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It has colonies of seals that lounge photogenically against sea cliffs that tower up to 200 metres high.
Times, Sunday Times
The sea has created steep sheer cliff faces, small islands, long beaches, coves and inlets.
Times, Sunday Times
Cities need their villages, their tiny sheltered coves, among the otherwise sheer cliff faces of high-rise glass and steel.
Times, Sunday Times
Next day, we hiked further into the canyon and found we had to climb down a 200ft sheer cliff by a waterfall.
Times, Sunday Times
Admire its old stone buildings built into the sheer cliff face— a striking contrast to the view of one of the world's architectural wonders.
Times, Sunday Times
When you see the sheer cliff that lies below the top section, you'll realise why.
Times, Sunday Times
One might move away from metaphor and draw something that really happened—looking over a steep cliff, canoeing on a river, a pivotal conversation.
Christianity Today
Doctors have 'imagined ourselves as barriers perched at the top of a steep cliff', she writes, standing between patients and the void.
Times, Sunday Times
With his back to the edge, he tumbled down the steep cliff face and landed on the shingle beach below in front of horrified daytrippers.
The Sun
A new mansion has been left precariously close to a steep cliff after a large patch of land at the end of the garden slipped into the sea.
Times, Sunday Times
A similar method involved chasing the prey down a steep cliff.
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The commandos had to climb a 350ft m tall cliff to reach their objective.
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This phenomenon was first recognised and studied there; since the last ice age the land has risen 800 m, which accounts for the unusual landscape with tall cliff formations.
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Tall cliffs fell sheer into the sea on all sides and other islands floated on the horizon in the evening light, as grey and distant as breaching whales.
Times, Sunday Times
Being on a northeast-facing shore and at the base of some tall cliffs.
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It contains large alkali lakes and tall cliffs, some with a prominence of more than 2000 ft.
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We make do with an exhilarating hour beneath the towering cliff face.
Times,Sunday Times
Water plunges over the top of a towering cliff at a rate of per second.
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As we cut through the waves, past towering cliffs and dark coves, we see guillemots, razorbills, kittiwakes and gannets.
Times, Sunday Times
To get here, we've abseiled towering cliffs, waded raging rivers, clambered rough ropes and dined on prickly cactus.
Times, Sunday Times
But spare some time for the rest of the island too, especially the towering cliffs of its southwestern tip.
Times,Sunday Times
Ten minutes later, what feels like a vertical cliff face dials my speed up to something approaching supersonic.
Times, Sunday Times
There, if the locals fancy an omelette they have to shimmy down a crumbling vertical cliff on the end of a rope to gather guillemot eggs.
Times, Sunday Times
The pilot, unaware the instructor was hanging from the fuselage, continued his ascent, manoeuvring beyond the top of the vertical cliff face on the west side of the summit.
Times,Sunday Times
The younger generations face a vertical cliff face of stymied possibilities, putting hopes of raising a family in nice circumstances heartbreakingly out of reach.
Times, Sunday Times
The cable turned left and stretched away up a vertical cliff.
Times, Sunday Times
Towards the end of the afternoon the marine layer pulled towards us in a foamy white cliff.
Times, Sunday Times
There wasn't a white cliff in sight.
The Sun
Two of the rooms have views across the white cliffs and out to sea.
Times, Sunday Times
Sharp white cliffs divide a charcoal blue sea from the hard reality of the land.
Times, Sunday Times
The white cliffs make for a dramatic setting.
Times, Sunday Times
Translations:
Chinese: 悬崖
Japanese: 崖