ridge
- 01 B2 Upper Intermediate
n.a long, narrow hilltop or mountain range.
n.a long, narrow elevation of land, such as a chain of hills or the crest of a mountain range.
Simple“We walked along the narrow ridge to get a better view of the valley below.”
In context“The hikers followed the rocky ridge for several miles, carefully navigating the steep drops on either side of the mountain spine.”
- 02 C1 Advanced
n.the highest horizontal line where two sides of a roof meet.
n.the horizontal line formed by the junction of two sloping surfaces at the top of a roof.
Simple“The workers climbed up to the ridge of the house to fix the broken tiles.”
In context“The architect specified a reinforced ridge beam to support the weight of the heavy slate tiles across the expansive roof span.”
- 03 B2 Upper Intermediate
n.a raised line or strip on a surface, like on a finger or a piece of land.
n.any extended protuberance or projecting line on a surface, whether biological, geological, or artificial.
Simple“You can feel the small ridges on the surface of a coin.”
In context“The forensic expert examined the unique ridges of the fingerprint left on the glass surface to identify the suspect.”
- 04 C1 Advanced
n.a long area of high air pressure that usually brings good weather.
n.an elongated region of relatively high atmospheric pressure.
Simple“A ridge of high pressure is moving in, so it should be sunny tomorrow.”
In context“The meteorologist noted that a persistent ridge of high pressure was blocking the arrival of Atlantic storm fronts, leading to a prolonged dry spell.”
Synonymshigh pressure zoneAntonyms - 05 C2 Proficiency
v.to make something into long, raised lines.
v.to form or mark with ridges; often used in agricultural or geological contexts.
Simple“The farmer used a machine to ridge the soil before planting the seeds.”
In context“The heavy rains began to ridge the hillside, creating small channels where the water flowed down toward the stream.”
“Like Iceland, it was formed by volcanic activity along the Mid-Atlantic Ridge.”
From Middle English rigge, rygge, (also rig, ryg, rug), from Old English hryċġ (“back, spine, ridge, elevated surface”), from Proto-West Germanic hrugi, from Proto-Germanic hrugjaz (“back”), from Proto-Indo-European (s)krewk-, (s)ker- (“to turn, bend”). Cognate with Scots rig (“back, spine, ridge”), North Frisian reg (“back”), West Frisian rêch (“back”), Dutch rug (“back, ridge”), German Rücken (“back, ridge”), Swedish rygg (“back, spine, ridge”), Icelandic hryggur (“spine”). Cognate to Albanian kërrus (“to bend one's back”) and kurriz (“back”).
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.