climber

noun

climb·​er ˈklī-mər 

plural climbers

1

a

: a person or animal that climbs

a tree climber

a bicyclist who's an excellent climber

a mountain climber

We also teach how to handle a rope and how to belay another climber to protect them if they fall.

—Lou Whittaker

see also rock climber

b

: a climbing plant

ivy and other climbers

Owing to their size and abundance, climbing plants, especially the large woody climbers or lianes, are one of the most impressive features of the Tropical Rain forest.

—P. W. Richards

2

: social climber

Examples of climber in a Sentence

Chimpanzees are excellent climbers and spend a lot of their lives in trees.

climbers like clematis and ivy

Recent Examples on the Web

For rock climbers, there’s Shawangunk Ridge; for hikers there’s Mohonk Preserve and Minnewaska State Park; and for the trail runner there’s the 22-mile Wallkill Valley Rail Trail just beyond the hotel’s back door. — Condé Nast, Condé Nast Traveler, 13 Oct. 2026

Any mission will also need diplomatic buy-in from China, which closed the Tibetan side of Everest to foreign climbers this year. — Helen Regan, CNN Money, 10 Oct. 2026

Genden Phuntsok and Tom Hiddleston star as Tenzing and Edmund Hillary, respectively, in Peedom’s film about the first climbers to ever summit Mount Everest. — ABC News, 9 Oct. 2026

The avalanche occurred at a base camp on Himlung Himal in Nepal, when the workers were preparing for climbers to arrive for an expedition, Reuters reported, citing Tul Singh Gurung, president of Nepal National Mountain Guide Association (NNMGA). — Madison E. Goldberg, PEOPLE, 2 Oct. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Phrases Containing climber

• social climber
• stair climber

Rhymes for climber

• dimer
• eimer
• primer
• rhymer
• timer
• alzheimer
• heterodimer