What's the difference between
and
Enter two words to compare and contrast their definitions, origins, and synonyms to better understand how those words are related.

Reach vs Climb - What's the difference?

reach | climb |

As an acronym reach

is .

As a verb climb is

to ascend; rise; to go up.

As a noun climb is

an act of climbing.

reach

English

Verb

(es)
  • To extend; to stretch; to thrust out; to put forth, as a limb, a member, something held, or the like.
  • Hence, to deliver by stretching out a member, especially the hand; to give with the hand; to pass to another; to hand over.
  • To attain or obtain by stretching forth the hand; to extend some part of the body, or something held by one, so as to touch, strike, grasp, etc.
  • To strike or touch with a missile.
  • Hence, to extend an action, effort, or influence to; to penetrate to; to pierce, or cut, as far as.
  • *
  • , title=(The Celebrity), chapter=4 , passage=Judge Short had gone to town, and Farrar was off for a three days' cruise up the lake. I was bitterly regretting I had not gone with him when the distant notes of a coach horn reached my ear, and I descried a four-in-hand winding its way up the inn road from the direction of Mohair.}}
  • To extend to; to stretch out as far as; to touch by virtue of extent.
  • * Milton
  • Thy desire leads to no excess / That reaches blame.
  • To arrive at by effort of any kind; to attain to; to gain; to be advanced to.
  • * Cheyne
  • The best account of the appearances of nature which human penetration can reach , comes short of its reality.
  • *
  • , title=(The Celebrity), chapter=5 , passage=But Miss Thorn relieved the situation by laughing aloud,
  • (obsolete) To understand; to comprehend.
  • * Beaumont and Fletcher
  • Do what, sir? I reach you not.
  • (obsolete) To overreach; to deceive.
  • (South)
  • To stretch out the hand.
  • To strain after something; to make efforts.
  • To extend in dimension, time etc.; to stretch out continuously ((past), (beyond), (above), (from) etc. something).
  • * 1994 , Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom , Abacus 2010, p. 4:
  • The Thembu tribe reaches back for twenty generations to King Zwide.
  • (nautical) To sail on the wind, as from one point of tacking to another, or with the wind nearly abeam.
  • Usage notes

    * In the past, raught'', ''rought'' and ''retcht could be found as past tense forms; these are now obsolete, except perhaps in some dialects.

    Derived terms

    * far-reaching * forereach * outreach * overreach * reachable * reach an early grave * reach for the stars * rereach *

    Noun

    (es)
  • The act of stretching or extending; extension; power of reaching or touching with the person, or a limb, or something held or thrown.
  • The fruit is beyond my reach .
    to be within reach of cannon shot
  • * 1918 , (Edgar Rice Burroughs), Chapter VI
  • and we have learned not to fire at any of the dinosaurs unless we can keep out of their reach for at least two minutes after hitting them in the brain or spine, or five minutes after puncturing their hearts—it takes them so long to die.
  • The power of stretching out or extending action, influence, or the like; power of attainment or management; extent of force or capacity.
  • * Hayward
  • Drawn by others who had deeper reaches than themselves to matters which they least intended.
  • * Alexander Pope
  • Be sure yourself and your own reach to know.
  • Extent; stretch; expanse; hence, application; influence; result; scope.
  • * Milton
  • And on the left hand, hell, / With long reach , interposed.
  • * Shakespeare
  • I am to pray you not to strain my speech / To grosser issues, nor to larger reach / Than to suspicion.
  • (informal) An exaggeration; an extension beyond evidence or normal; a stretch.
  • To call George eloquent is certainly a reach .
  • (boxing) The distance a boxer's arm can extend to land a blow.
  • An extended portion of land or water; a stretch; a straight portion of a stream or river, as from one turn to another; a level stretch, as between locks in a canal; an arm of the sea extending up into the land.
  • * Tennyson
  • The river's wooded reach .
  • * Holland
  • The coast is very full of creeks and reaches .
  • (nautical) Any point of sail in which the wind comes from the side of a vessel, excluding close-hauled.
  • (obsolete) An article to obtain an advantage.
  • * Francis Bacon
  • The Duke of Parma had particular reaches and ends of his own underhand to cross the design.
  • The pole or rod connecting the rear axle with the forward bolster of a wagon.
  • An effort to vomit; a retching.
  • Derived terms

    * arm's reach * beam reach * boardinghouse reach * broad reach * dry reach * earreach * eyereach * gunreach * reach-around * reachless

    Statistics

    *

    Anagrams

    * * 1000 English basic words ----

    climb

    English

    Verb

  • To ascend; rise; to go up.
  • Prices climbed steeply.
  • * Dryden
  • Black vapours climb aloft, and cloud the day.
  • To mount; to move upwards on.
  • They climbed the mountain.
    Climbing a tree
  • To scale; to get to the top of something.
  • * {{quote-news, year=2010, date=May 22, author=David Harrison
  • , title=American boy, 13, is youngest person to climb Everest , work=Daily Telegraph online citation , page= , passage=He is a curly-haired schoolboy barely in his teens, but 13-year-old Jordan Romero from California has become the youngest person to climb Mount Everest.}}
  • To move (especially up and down something) by gripping with the hands and using the feet.
  • * 1900 , (James Frazer), (The Golden Bough) Chapter 65
  • A priest clad in a white robe climbs the tree and with a golden sickle cuts the mistletoe, which is caught in a white cloth.
  • * 1900 , , ''(The Wonderful Wizard of Oz)
  • She thought she must have been mistaken at first, for none of the scarecrows in Kansas ever wink; but presently the figure nodded its head to her in a friendly way. Then she climbed down from the fence and walked up to it, while Toto ran around the pole and barked.
  • * 2008 , Tony Atkins, Dragonhawk - the Turning
  • Cutter and Bolan climbed around the furniture and piled into the back of the truck.
  • to practise the sport of climbing
  • to jump high
  • * {{quote-news, year=2010, date=December 28
  • , author=Paul Fletcher, title=Man City 4 - 0 Aston Villa, work=BBC citation , page= , passage=The defender climbed majestically at the near post to convert Johnson's corner. }}
  • * {{quote-news, year=2008, date=September 13
  • , title=Ospreys Glasgow Magners League, work=South Wales Evening Post citation , page= , passage=As the game moved towards injury time, the Ospreys forced a line-out which Jonathan Thomas climbed high to take.}}
  • * {{quote-news, year=2001, date=December 29, author=Derick Allsop
  • , title=Bolton's nine men hit back to steal a point, work=Daily Telegraph online citation , page= , passage=Four minutes of stoppage time were virtually up when Ricketts climbed to head in the equaliser from substitute Nicky Southall's centre.}}
  • To move to a higher position on the social ladder.
  • (botany) Of plants, to grow upwards by clinging to something.
  • Usage notes

    In the past, the forms clomb'' and ''clumb were encountered as simple past and past participle forms; these forms are now archaic or dialectical.

    Derived terms

    * climb down * climb down someone's throat * climb up * climb the ladder * climb the walls * climber * declimb * have a mountain to climb * unclimbed
    Synonyms
    (get to the top of) * scale

    Noun

    (wikipedia climb) (en noun)
  • An act of climbing.
  • * 2007 , Nigel Shepherd, Complete Guide to Rope Techniques
  • Make sure that you keep checking to see that everything remains safe throughout the climb .
  • The act of getting to somewhere more elevated.
  • * 2012 , July 15. Richard Williams in Guardian Unlimited, Tour de France 2012: Carpet tacks cannot force Bradley Wiggins off track
  • The Mur de Péguère is a savage little climb , its last four kilometres a narrow tunnel of trees and excited spectators urging on the straining riders.
  • * 1999 , B. Keith Jones, The Roomie Do Me Blues
  • I guess the room wasn't so bad, except for the climb to get there. The stairs were destined to be a serious health hazard.
  • An upwards struggle
  • * {{quote-news
  • , year=1998 , date=September 30 , author=AP , title=Worst May Lie Ahead For Asia, Report Warns , work=Milwaukee Journal Sentinel citation , page= , passage=After a decade of prosperity, millions of Asians are likely to be pushed into poverty, and the climb out of poverty will stall for millions of others}}

    Derived terms

    * rate of climb