steepsteep1 /stiːp/ ●●○ S3 adjective (comparative steeper, superlative steepest) 
The road became rocky and steep. a steep climb to the top2steep prices, charges etc are unusually expensive OPP low: steep rents3involving a big increase or decrease SYN sharp: steep cuts in benefitssteep increase/rise a steep increase in house pricessteep decrease/drop a steep drop in orders—steeply adverb—steepness noun [uncountable]COLLOCATIONSnounsa steep hill· The car careered down the steep hill.a steep slope· Coffee was grown on the steep slopes.a steep bank· He scrambled down the steep bank.a steep path/road· She stood at the top of the steep path leading down to the beach.steep stairs· Martha led the way up the very steep stairs.the steep sides of something· The steep sides of the valley were clothed in dense green forest.a steep gradient formal (=a steep slope – used especially when talking about how steep something is)· The Snowdon Mountain Railway has the steepest gradient of any locomotive track in Britain.a steep climb· A steep climb brought us to a wide rocky plateau.a steep descent (=a steep journey, slope, or path downwards)· the steep descent into the beautiful Farndale Valley
WORD ORIGINsteep1
Origin:
Old English steap ‘high, steep, deep’EXAMPLES FROM OTHER DICTIONARIES
- I think £7 for a drink is a bit steep, don't you?
- It's hard to find an apartment around here, and when you do the rents are pretty steep.
- The road's too steep to ride up on a bike.
- The show is Sunday, July 27, and though tickets are somewhat steep at $27, it should be well worth seeing.
- They've proposed a steep increase in the cigarette tax.
- Below us the narrow road twisted upon itself as it began to climb up through the steep foothills.
- I met the old lady as I was walking down a steep path out of the village.
- It is possible that the steep age gradient observed in Figure 5.1 is mainly due to these factors.
- National Championship hopefuls have to master their craft in high winds and steep swell.
- The rest of the film shows their ordeal as they make repeated assaults on the steep, mud-slick, heavily fortified hill.
- To my right lies a steep slope.
- We edged up along a steep, snowy ridge and over the heaven-scraped granite to the top.
- With regard to the gradients, Leathart must have had in mind the steep section of the Deep Level.
Longman Language Activatorwhen something is too expensive
if you can't afford something, you do not have enough money to buy it or pay for it: · I really need a new coat, but I can't afford one.can't afford to do something: · We couldn't afford to go on holiday last year.can't afford it: · Hiring a lawyer would be expensive, and she just couldn't afford it.
prices, charges, rents etc that are exorbitant or extortionate , are very much higher than they should be, and you think they are unfair: · The restaurant charges exorbitant prices for very ordinary food.· Interest rates for some of the credit cards are extortionate.
spoken informal you say something is a rip-off when you think someone is unfairly charging too much money for it: · Eighty dollars for a pair of jeans? What a rip-off!a complete/total rip-off: · The vacation package we bought ended up being a total rip-off.
prices or costs that are prohibitive or prohibitively expensive are so high that people cannot pay them or decide not to pay them because they are too expensive: · For most people, the cost of living in the centre of town is prohibitive.· The computer was superior to other models, but it was prohibitively expensive.
prices that are much higher than usual and much higher than they should be, so that the person who charges them can make a big profit: · Nightclubs often charge inflated prices for drinks.at inflated prices: · Some people buy large blocks of tickets and then try to sell them at vastly inflated prices.
informal prices, charges, rents etc that are steep seem unusually or surprisingly high: · I think £7 for a drink is a bit steep, don't you?· It's hard to find an apartment around here, and when you do the rents are pretty steep.
British /be highway robbery American informal if you say that a price or charge is daylight robbery or highway robbery you mean it is very much higher than it should be: · I'm not paying £5 for an ice-cream - that's daylight robbery!· We knew it was highway robbery, but we had no choice but to pay.
to make something so expensive that people will no longer buy it because they can buy something similar at a lower price: be priced out of the market: · British electrical equipment is likely to be priced out of the market by cheap imports.price yourself out of the market: · Ford don't want to raise its prices any more - it's worried about pricing itself out of the market.
COLLOCATIONS FROM THE ENTRYnouns The sign leaned over at a slight angle. the sharp fall in the birth rate in European countries Everyone in the centre has been through a very steep learning curve (=they had to learn very quickly).
· The car careered down the steep hill.
· Coffee was grown on the steep slopes.
· He scrambled down the steep bank.
· She stood at the top of the steep path leading down to the beach.
· Martha led the way up the very steep stairs.
· The steep sides of the valley were clothed in dense green forest.
formal (=a steep slope – used especially when talking about how steep something is)· The Snowdon Mountain Railway has the steepest gradient of any locomotive track in Britain.
· A steep climb brought us to a wide rocky plateau.
(=a steep journey, slope, or path downwards)· the steep descent into the beautiful Farndale Valley
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES The sign leaned over at a slight angle. (=sloping at a high angle)· The cliffs were steep and dangerous.
(=by a large amount)· The higher prices caused a sharp decline in sales.
(=going down suddenly)· The fighter plane went into a steep dive.
the sharp fall in the birth rate in European countries· She pushed her bicycle up the steep hill.
(=be closely connected with important events in history)· Cambridge is steeped in history and tradition.
Everyone in the centre has been through a very steep learning curve (=they had to learn very quickly).· A steep path led down to the harbour.
(=great and sudden)· There’s been a sharp rise in house prices.
· I struggled to keep from slipping on the steep slope.
(=have many traditions)· It is an area of the country steeped in tradition.
· a bridge across a deep valley
COLLOCATIONS FROM THE CORPUSADVERB· The latter were constructed to both conserve moisture and to reduce soil erosion and occur on slopes as steep as 25°.
· Heavy industry was quailing before foreign competition, but the decline in traditional female areas of work was less steep.· Undaunted, she added more track to make the incline less steep and the ending less abrupt.· The middle course valleys are broader and the valley sides are less steep than in the upper course.· There are very few, if any, abrupt breaks in climate, only steeper and less steep climatic gradients.
· The taper for withdrawing council tax benefit is much steeper.· Then there is a much steeper drop up to 2,000 fathoms.· Hick Hooper's attack was much steeper than anybody else's.
· Higher up the vegetation thinned out, but the climb was so steep I didn't care to look down.· The road now led down a gully so steep that Jim Yellow Earring was thrown forward.· The climb was so steep that in places it could be made only with the help of ropes.· Round this way it's not so steep.· As pits become deeper they must also become wider in order to prevent the sides from becoming so steep they are unstable.
· Suddenly, the boar had been faced with a cliff too steep to climb and had turned on its heel.· For some medical ethicists, those prices are too steep for a service whose value is unknown.· Builders had put the ramp in free of charge, but the council said it was too steep.· Big Round Top was too steep and rocky for this.· The rock above me was too steep for any animal to find foothold on.· The slopes of the valley sides are often too steep to cultivate.· Slope: what proportion of the farm is too steep to work safely or economically?· Angle of ladder too steep. 54.
· But that's through high trees and up steep hills.· The rest we had to transport up to the second and fourth floors, up steep, dark steps!· Right: Front-pointing up steep, lean ice.· I never rode around bends or up steep hills.· I walked up steep fields on to Wenlock Edge.· Then we were taken up steep narrow logging roads into the mountains of Boras.
· Already there was a very steep drop and as she looked up her heart almost stopped.· A very steep paths leads down from the summit.· Where the coast has deep water offshore a fall in base level means the formation of a vertical or very steep cliff.· If the pool sides are vertical or very steep, it may be necessary to erect some kind of formwork.· The village is situated on a very steep hillside with steps leading up to the next row of houses.· Much of the hill ground had been ploughed and reseeded - some on very steep slopes.· The wave should be very steep to encourage a more vertical flight as you take off.· Soon the path led him down a very steep hillside.
NOUN· Sometimes it can be a steeper angle than somewhere else.· The second bullet was fired from close to where Doyle was lying, and at a very steep angle.· He had a beard and his forehead sloped back at a steep angle.· In distinctive display flight flaps upwards at a steep angle and then glides down with wings scarcely upraised.· In two species examined the crystals lie parallel to the surface and in another two they lie at a steep angle.
· It's a steep ascent but the compensation is a swift gaining of the ridge.· From here to the top was a steep ascent of some five hundred yards, covered with large rocks and fallen timber.· Follow the path west passing over a high stile and making a steep ascent to the summit of Y Garn.· At the foot of the last steep ascent..· Not until I began to feel the horses straining up the steep ascent to our house did I open my eyes.
· Too late she remembered about the steep bank behind her and stepped into thin air.· There he helped her up the steep bank, while the boy without a jacket carried the baby who wore it.· He was doing wheelies on a steep bank with a wire fence at the top.· He set the traps carefully under mossy logs, under grass overhanging like curtains along steep banks, and in brush piles.· The tenement reared up, a coaly silhouette flaring red, from the steep bank below them.· The fog of the Golden Gate has piled up along the steep bank behind our house, engulfing our neighborhood in vapor.· Several rare ferns grow on the steep banks of the burn where it runs into the lake.· He says that the kingfishers need a steep bank to nest in, running water, plenty of fish.
· Finally the sea encroached on this topography producing steep cliffs, inlets, sea stacks and sandy or shingly beach deposits.· Where the coast has deep water offshore a fall in base level means the formation of a vertical or very steep cliff.· Without mountain ranges, steep cliffs or rough and bumpy cross-country routes, there are seldom natural features such as corkscrew bends.· They occupy a cove with the sea and steep cliffs behind them and a sailing boat anchored to the right.
· A steeper climb of around 500% occurred between 1960 and 1975 bringing the average to £20,000.· Then came June and the steep climb in the number of cases that climaxed in August or September.· There are also some steeper climbs behind the village.· How such a venture was ever worthwhile is debatable for it had the disadvantage of the steep climb from the pavement.· A steep climb through bracken and bilberries brought us to a wide rocky plateau.· Despite its steep climbs, the journey seemed easy.· Cable cars, chairlifts and mountain railways take the strain out of steep climbs and allow relaxing walks on the mountain summits.· If the glider is in a very steep climb this should be reduced slightly before yawing.
· Early in 1982, before El Chichón erupted, a steep decline in temperature set in.· Their steep decline has given grim satisfaction to their legions of detractors.· London shares dropped sharply, dragged down by steep declines on Wall Street Tuesday and in early dealings yesterday.· And the new geography of this steeper decline can be picked out from Table 2.2.· More recently there has been a steep decline in the support for political union.
· If the model is set up correctly, it should make a steep descent under full control.· The Robinson 22 light helicopter was on an auto-gyration practice flight when the tail rotor touched the ground during a steep descent.· The plane had gone into a steep descent and an explosion ripped the air.
· He naturally tried to recover from the steep dive before striking the ground.· This, not his ethical problems, caused the steepest dive in his national popularity, to its current nadir.· There have been several cases of two-seaters being overstressed by pilots pulling back hard to recover from steep dives after spin recoveries.
· I saw the frightened horses on the edge of a steep drop.· Big Thunder is weak as roller coasters go with no steep drops or loops.· On his second wave he took a steep drop and his nose dug in.· The index earlier was down 100 points, its steepest drop since Dec. 18.· Already there was a very steep drop and as she looked up her heart almost stopped.· The river has curved round and Odd-Knut has drawn up a few metres from the edge of a very steep drop.· Then there is a much steeper drop up to 2,000 fathoms.· Turn right, with a steep drop on the left where the path descends towards the Upper Neuadd reservoir.
· Whether the steep falls of yesterday turn into something more serious remains to be seen.· Separately, shares in forestry companies declined amid forecasts of a steep fall in cellulose prices, analysts said.· The steep fall in interest rates over the past two years has boosted their operating profits enormously.· The latter's performance is attributed to steep falls in smoking.· Two rival companies, Toshiba and Hitachi, saw a steep fall in profits.
· The railway bridge at this point represented the steepest gradient on the whole system at 1:16.· The steepest gradient is 3.3 %, and the minimum curve radius is 400m.· There were some steep gradients, particularly Anerley Hill, leading up the Crystal Palace.· The main objects of this alignment are to achieve a short wheel base, and a fairly steep gradient.· The road, curving round the sides of the hills, indulged in dizzying bends and steep gradients.
· But that's through high trees and up steep hills.· The cattle were driven up and down the steep hill each spring and fall, well into the early 1940s.· It stretches up a steep hill and overlooks the rivers Tay and Earn.· Set into a steep hill green with trees, they look out upon the sea.· It then climbs the inevitably steep hill back up to Alum chine on the return leg to Bournemouth.· After lunch, he and Barnabas walked up the steep hill to Fernbank.· The bus failed to get up the first steep hill it came to.· Wearing a pair of tennis shoes, he walked up the steep hill with the energy of a young mountain climber.
· The upper part of the village of Whittington lies on the south-east slope of a steep hillside.· They can be installed on steep hillsides.· Thorn said that midsummer sunset was observed from a small platform on a steep hillside overlooking the stone.· The village is situated on a very steep hillside with steps leading up to the next row of houses.· Soon the path led him down a very steep hillside.· A similar system was also used in the West Country on steep hillsides from the seventeenth century onwards.· An outcrop of white rock from the steep hillside seemed to the children as tall as a cliff.
· After that I could never see the point of toiling up a steep incline in preference to riding comfortably on a ski-lift!· The slow gradient ended when the road climbed the steepest incline I had yet encountered.· They continued on, up the steep incline and into the castle.· Although her descent down the steep incline took several minutes, the queue at the foot remained motionless.
· At the time, both departments were understood to be concerned about potential tax losses and a steep increase in collection costs.· However, he accompanied the tax cuts with steep increases in government spending, especially in the area of defense.
· It is a large village in open meadowland at the head of the Ziller Valley, and is surrounded by steep mountains.· Many of the larger craters in both the highlands and mare basins display clusters or rings of steep mountains at their centers.· Climbing the steep mountain roads round hairpin bends was quite dramatic and more than once I had glimpses of distant eagles.· Arizona is filled with steep mountains and countless cliffs.
· A steep path cut down from the quarry edge to the meadow.· A very steep paths leads down from the summit.· On the steep path to the fortress the fires still burned.· I met the old lady as I was walking down a steep path out of the village.· Leading the animal by its reins, she descended the steep path towards the place of tents.· I walk down the steep path to the harbour.· Some men would already be at the boats, others coming down the steep path from the village.· A young girl skips down the steep path with a small sack of potatoes.
· I notice that the steepest price rises in past years have been in pubs tied to the national brewers.· The ban on local sale of newsprint to Nasa Borba makes it necessary to import it from abroad at steep prices.· Phil Gramm ignored the warning and paid a steep price.· Those who do make it pay the steep price of assimilation.· Analysts say the steep price markdowns that retailers took all month will exact a heavy toll on profits.· Professional publishing packages are available at fairly steep prices.
· He has already triggered a steep rise in transfer market prices by proving such a bargain at £2.5 million.· Set back from the road on quite a steep rise was a new ranch-style house.
· He believes reversing moves on steep rock is an excellent training device.· I swam out between the steep rocks to the open sea.· High winds and steep rocks make landing hazardous, and the smell of guano deposits can be significant!
· Okawi had prepared the hunting canoes and was now praying over their steep sides.· She scaled its steep side in breathless haste.· We reached a rocky edge from which a steep side fell away.· Its steep sides are thronged with Goblin strongholds and its rocky slopes overlay caves and tunnels that are riddled with evil creatures.· He could hear her barking and looked down over the steep side of the embankment to the bottom of the trees.· With its steep sides, flat impermeable rock floor and narrow bottle-neck shape, it was an ideal site for a reservoir.· Ponds or garden pools with steep sides are lethal traps.· She was tied to the wheel of a chariot and sent down the steep sides of one of the great hills.
· Coffee was cultivated on the steep slopes while housing and processing plants were located on flatter ridges.· The evergreens' roots sought anchoring crevices at the rocky summits, and clung precariously to the steep slopes.· Beyond there the gorge walls are often vertical or steep slopes of rubble, impassable whatever the season.· They grew wealthy overnight and had a beautiful little opera house built in the midst of their shacks on the steep slope.· The small village appears to be under constant threat of a landslide from the steep slopes immediately behind.· You will see it as a great mound becoming visible at the bottom of a steep slope that you are descending.· High tide is often positively dangerous, with vicious dumping waves breaking on the steep slope of the upper beach.· I see narrow roads contoured into the sides of steep slopes.
· I run between the concrete pillars holding up the elevated railway, on to the steep stairs.· Bob balks at the steep stairs.· Size, the presence of steep stairs, dampness, and difficulty to heat, may mean that property is inappropriate.· Dismissed properly, they sprang into motion and took the steep stairs in a single leap.· I had to drag Tom's pram up eighteen steep stairs.
· Practising aerobatics and spinning will help to overcome any misgivings you may have about flying in steep turns at low speeds.· It is fun to practise pulling up into a climb and trying to establish an accurate, low-speed, steep turn.· Less than a mile to go and the road rounds a steep turn.· But a steep turn, below, reveals a portly frame and dated antecedents.· I immediately went into a steep turn to port to attack them again.· On most gliders that will mean less than 50 knots, which you may think rather slow for a steep turn.
· Thérèse and Léonie stared at the steep wall of rock, at the grass and weeds at its foot.· Half-blinded by shadow I made out a steep wall of steps and moved towards it.· Just left of the needle is a steep wall with two lines for those who like bold climbing.· Further to the right the cliff becomes rather nondescript until a shallow, right-facing corner offers access to a fine steep wall.· Now they were steep walls of water dropping like guillotines on to the reef.
WORD FAMILYverbsteepsteepennounsteepnessadjectivesteepadverbsteeply
1a road, hill etc that is steep slopes at a high angle: The road became rocky and steep. a steep climb to the top2steep prices, charges etc are unusually expensive OPP low: steep rents3involving a big increase or decrease SYN sharp: steep cuts in benefitssteep increase/rise a steep increase in house pricessteep decrease/drop a steep drop in orders—steeply adverb—steepness noun [uncountable]COLLOCATIONSnounsa steep hill· The car careered down the steep hill.a steep slope· Coffee was grown on the steep slopes.a steep bank· He scrambled down the steep bank.a steep path/road· She stood at the top of the steep path leading down to the beach.steep stairs· Martha led the way up the very steep stairs.the steep sides of something· The steep sides of the valley were clothed in dense green forest.a steep gradient formal (=a steep slope – used especially when talking about how steep something is)· The Snowdon Mountain Railway has the steepest gradient of any locomotive track in Britain.a steep climb· A steep climb brought us to a wide rocky plateau.a steep descent (=a steep journey, slope, or path downwards)· the steep descent into the beautiful Farndale Valley