uphill

From up +‎ hill.

• (adjective, noun) IPA^(key): /ˈʌphɪl/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (adverb) IPA^(key): /ʌpˈhɪl/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪl

uphill (comparative more uphill, superlative most uphill)

1. Up a slope, towards higher ground.
2. (by extension) With difficulty.

• downhill

uphill (comparative further uphill, superlative furthest uphill)

1. Located up a slope or on a hill.
2. Going up a slope or a hill.
   • 1900, Jerome K. Jerome, Three Men on the Bummel‎^[1]:

     “There’s a lot of uphill about a bicycle tour,” said he, “and the wind is against you.”
     “So there is downhill, and the wind behind you,” said Harris.

   • 1947 January and February, O. S. Nock, “"The Aberdonian" in Wartime”, in Railway Magazine, page 9:

     The engine seemed a little sensitive to wet rails, and in consequence the uphill work was not so good north of Dundee as it had been earlier. But I have noted this same "touchiness" on the part of the "A4s", and other modern British 4-6-2s, so that in this respect No. 2006 proved no exception.

3. (by extension) Difficult or laborious.
   • 2022 June 7, Phil McNulty, “Germany 1-1- England”, in BBC Sport‎^[2]:

     For a large part of this game, England once again looked like a team suffering from the rigours of a long season and faced an uphill task when Hofmann put Germany in front.

• Sense 3 comparative and superlative is usually made with more and most

• downhill

uphill (plural uphills)

1. An uphill route.

• downhill