different between lower vs steep

English

Etymology 1

low +? -er (comparative suffix)

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?l???/
• (US) IPA^(key): /?lo??/
• Rhymes: -???(r)
• Rhymes: -a?.?(?)

Adjective

lower

1. comparative form of low: more low
2. bottom; more towards the bottom than the middle of an object
3. Situated on lower ground, nearer a coast, or more southerly.

4. (geology, of strata or geological time periods) older

Antonyms

• (more low): higher
• (bottom): upper
• (older): upper

Derived terms

Translations

Adverb

lower

1. comparative form of low: more low

Verb

lower (third-person singular simple present lowers, present participle lowering, simple past and past participle lowered)

1. (transitive) To let descend by its own weight, as something suspended; to let down

   lower a bucket into a well

   to lower a sail of a boat

2. (transitive) to pull down

   to lower a flag

   • 1833 (first publication), Alfred Tennyson, A Dream of Fair Women

     Lower'd softly with a threefold cord of love
     Down to a silent grave.

3. (transitive) To reduce the height of

   lower a fence or wall

   lower a chimney or turret

4. (transitive) To depress as to direction

   lower the aim of a gun

5. (transitive) To make less elevated

   to lower one's ambition, aspirations, or hopes

6. (transitive) To reduce the degree, intensity, strength, etc., of

   lower the temperature

   lower one's vitality

   lower distilled liquors

7. (transitive) To bring down; to humble

   lower one's pride

8. (reflexive) (lower oneself) To humble oneself; to do something one considers to be beneath one's dignity.

   I could never lower myself enough to buy second-hand clothes.

9. (transitive) To reduce (something) in value, amount, etc.

   lower the price of goods

   lower the interest rate

10. (intransitive) To fall; to sink; to grow less; to diminish; to decrease

    The river lowered as rapidly as it rose.

11. (intransitive) To decrease in value, amount, etc.

Synonyms

• (let (something) descend by its own weight, such as a bucket or sail): bring down
• (reduce the height of, as a fence or chimney): shorten
• (depress as to direction, as a gun):
• (make less elevated as to object, as ambitions or hopes): reduce
• (reduce the degree, intensity, strength, etc., of, as temperature): reduce, turn down
• (transitive: to humble):
• (reflexive: to humble oneself): be humble
• (reduce (something) in value, amount, etc): cut, reduce
• (intransitive: grow less): die off, drop, fall, fall off, shrink
• (intransitive: decrease in value): become/get smaller, become/get lower, lessen, reduce

Derived terms

• lower the boom
• lower the tone

Translations

Etymology 2

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?la??/, /?la?.?/
• (US) IPA^(key): /?la??/, /?la?.?/

Verb

lower (third-person singular simple present lowers, present participle lowering, simple past and past participle lowered)

1. Alternative spelling of lour

Related terms

• loweringly

Anagrams

• owler, rowel

Scanian

Etymology

From Old Norse lágr, from Proto-Germanic *l?gaz.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [lé???], [l?????]

Adjective

lower m

1. low

English

Pronunciation

• enPR: st?p, IPA^(key): /sti?p/
• Rhymes: -i?p

Etymology 1

From Middle English steep, from Old English st?ap (“high”), from Proto-Germanic *staupaz. Compare Old Frisian st?p, Dutch stoop (“grand; proud”), Middle High German stouf (“towering cliff, precipice”), Middle High German stief (“steep”)), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)tewb- (“to push, stick”). The Proto-Indo-European root (and related) has many and varied descendants, including English stub; compare also Scots stap (“to strike, to forcibly insert”).

The sense of “sharp slope” is attested circa 1200; the sense “expensive” is attested US 1856.

Adjective

steep (comparative steeper, superlative steepest)

1. Of a near-vertical gradient; of a slope, surface, curve, etc. that proceeds upward at an angle near vertical.

2. (informal) expensive

3. (obsolete) Difficult to access; not easy reached; lofty; elevated; high.
   • 1596, George Chapman, De Guiana, carmen Epicum

     Her ears and thoughts in steep amaze erected

4. (of the rake of a ship's mast, or a car's windshield) resulting in a mast or windshield angle that strongly diverges from the perpendicular

Derived terms

• steepen

Synonyms

• (dialectal) brant

Translations

Noun

steep (plural steeps)

1. The steep side of a mountain etc.; a slope or acclivity.
   • 1833, Banjamin Disraeli, The Wondrous Tale of Alroy

     It ended precipitously in a dark and narrow ravine, formed on the other side by an opposite mountain, the lofty steep of which was crested by a city gently rising on a gradual slope

Etymology 2

From Middle English stepen, from Old Norse steypa (“to make stoop, cast down, pour out, cast (metal)”), from Proto-Germanic *staupijan? (“to tumble, make tumble, plunge”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)tewb- (“to push, hit”). Cognate with Danish støbe (“cast (metal)”), Norwegian støpe, støype, Swedish stöpa (“to found, cast (metal)”), Old English st?pian (“to stoop, bend the back, slope”). Doublet of stoop.

Verb

steep (third-person singular simple present steeps, present participle steeping, simple past and past participle steeped)

1. (transitive, middle) To soak or wet thoroughly.
   • 1820, William Wordsworth, Composed at Cora Linn, in sight of Wallace's Tower

     In refreshing dews to steep / The little, trembling flowers.

2. (intransitive, figuratively) To imbue with something; to be deeply immersed in.
   • 1871, John Earle, The Philology of the English Tongue

   The learned of the nation were steeped in Latin.

   • 1989, Black 47, Big Fellah:

     We fought against each other, two brothers steeped in blood / But I never doubted that your heart was broken in the flood / And though we had to shoot you down in golden Béal na mBláth / I always knew that Ireland lost her greatest son of all.

Derived terms

• insteep

Translations

Noun

steep (countable and uncountable, plural steeps)

1. A liquid used in a steeping process

   Corn steep has many industrial uses.

2. A rennet bag.

Translations

References

Anagrams

• Estep, Tepes, speet, teeps, tepes