Meaning & use
mountain ridge
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Meanings
nouncountable
A long, narrow, raised strip of high ground along the top of a mountain or hill.
Grammar: Countable: say a mountain ridge or two mountain ridges.
Patterns
- along a mountain ridge
- on the mountain ridge
- a sharp mountain ridge
We walked along the mountain ridge for three hours with the valley far below us.
From the village you can see a rocky mountain ridge against the sky.
Snow lay on the mountain ridge until late spring.
nouncountable
The line where two sloping sides of a mountain meet, often used as a route to the summit.
Grammar: Often used with climb, follow or reach when talking about routes.
Patterns
- climb a mountain ridge
- follow a mountain ridge
- reach the mountain ridge
The climbers followed the mountain ridge to the top instead of the icy face.
A narrow path runs up the mountain ridge behind the farm.
They reached the mountain ridge at sunrise and stopped for breakfast.
Word forms
| plural | mountain ridges |
|---|
Common combinations
- a sharp mountain ridge
- A sharp mountain ridge cut across the horizon.
- a rocky mountain ridge
- The rocky mountain ridge is hard to cross in winter.
- walk along a mountain ridge
- We walked along a mountain ridge all afternoon.
- the crest of a mountain ridge
- Wind hit us at the crest of the mountain ridge.
- snow-covered mountain ridge
- A snow-covered mountain ridge shone in the distance.
Synonyms and how they differ
- crest
- Use crest for the very highest line or point of a ridge or wave; it is narrower than mountain ridge.
- spine
- Spine is a figurative word for a long narrow ridge; it sounds more literary than mountain ridge.
- hogback
- Hogback is a technical term for a ridge with steep sides; it is rare outside geology books.
- arete
- Arete is a specialist climbing word for a sharp rocky ridge; use mountain ridge in everyday speech.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: mountain ridge or mountain range? mountain ridge or ridge (of a roof)?
mountain ridge vs mountain range
A mountain range is a long group of connected mountains; a mountain ridge is just the raised top line of one mountain or hill.
mountain ridge vs ridge (of a roof)
The same word ridge also means the top edge where two roof slopes meet, which has nothing to do with mountains.
Practice
Which sentence uses "mountain ridge" correctly?
Choose one answer.
A mountain ridge is a raised line of high ground that you can walk or climb along, so "followed the mountain ridge to the summit" fits. Option 0 confuses it with the ridge of a roof, option 2 makes no sense, and option 3 invents an animal meaning.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “mountain ridge”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.