What do you call a road that goes up and down?

Question

How does one describe a road that goes upwards and downwards, as in the image below?

I'm not quite sure what word to use, although I am sure that there is one. Is it a zig-zag road?

By the way, the photo is from the Roller Coaster Highway in Oklahoma.

(There was a proposed duplicate, "Does calling a road 'wavy' convey its shape clearly?", but that question is about a road that goes left and right- this one is about a road going up and down.)

@Agangu: it's Roller Coaster Highway In Tulsa, Oklahoma. — , Oct 19 '18 at 15:51
I think your picture says hilly road under it. See my answer. — Lambie, Oct 19 '18 at 16:04
Possible duplicate of Does calling a road 'wavy' convey its shape clearly? — computercarguy, Oct 19 '18 at 18:41
@computercarguy Not a dupe. The road in the other question appears to be flat yet winding. The road in this question is neither flat nor winding. — Laurel, Oct 20 '18 at 02:03
@computercarguy like laurel said, that question is significantly different. I wouldn't even call it related. — Aethenosity, Oct 21 '18 at 05:43
Rolling terrain. https://connect.ncdot.gov/projects/Roadway/Lists/Roadway-Design-Manual/DispForm.aspx?ID=16&ContentTypeId=0x01000AB0E7EB8C061D47AA9DC7DDD0827991 — Bread, Oct 21 '18 at 18:00
A word or phrase request can easily attract a long list of answers when it’s too subjective – more of a poll or request for ideas. Unfortunately neither are a good fit for the Stack Exchange model. A Stack Exchange question is objective and specific enough that it has a clearly “right” answer. See: “Real questions have answers, not items or ideas or opinions”, “Single word requests, crosswords, and the fight against mediocrity”. — MetaEd, Oct 22 '18 at 22:13
If possible, add more details of research you’ve done, especially solutions you’ve already rejected, and why. Include the desired connotation, register (formality), part of speech, and context in which it is to be used, and provide the exact enclosing sentence or passage. If this is not possible because you really do have a subjective question, a welcoming place to ask for advice is our English Language & Usage Chat. — MetaEd, Oct 22 '18 at 22:13

score 85 · Accepted Answer · edited Oct 20 '18 at 13:52

85

"Undulate" is often used for roads that go up and down, while 'zig-zag' is used for roads that repeatedly bend to the left and right.

The road undulates for three miles before descending into a valley.

I enjoy an undulating road while driving, but not while cycling.

edited Oct 20 '18 at 13:52

Kroltan

115

answered Oct 19 '18 at 11:24

Trevor Christopher Butcher

1,628

As of this comment, this is the only example I see that I might actually use in writing! – Ruadhan2300 Oct 19 '18 at 13:21
13

That would be a good word for describing it in a book or similar form of writing, but in casual conversation that would sound out of place to me. – Herohtar Oct 19 '18 at 15:27
https://www.google.co.uk/search?tbm=isch&sa=1&ei=VfzJW_CPLubQrgTepqjIBw&q=%22undulating+road%22&oq=%22undulating+road%22&gs_l=img.3..0i30k1j0i24k1.1683.3793.0.4056.2.2.0.0.0.0.141.278.0j2.2.0....0...1c.1.64.img..0.2.277...0.0.uzqE8MtUJeo – Mari-Lou A Oct 19 '18 at 15:47
16

A hilly road in everyday parlance. – Lambie Oct 19 '18 at 15:59
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I'll admit. If I saw undulate before this answer, I'd have to look it up to figure out what it means. – James Haug Oct 19 '18 at 16:41
@Herohtar agreed. It would make for a good metaphor, but undulating means that something is physically moving up and down. Roads generally don't undulate unless something like this is going on: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9gTGPj216s – user2752467 Oct 19 '18 at 21:32
3

It's kind of ironic that we don't like "wavy", but we do like "undulating" - even though "undulating" comes from Latin "unda", which means "a wave". Language isn't logical! – alephzero Oct 20 '18 at 10:30
Roads do not do many things physically that we still say they do. Roads do not wind, for example. – Trevor Christopher Butcher Oct 20 '18 at 10:54
@JustinLardinois that's one of multiple definitions for undulate. Another is "have a smoothly rising and falling form or outline" which has no mention of motion. – Aethenosity Oct 21 '18 at 05:48
I'm sure I've seen "undulate" to mean more general oscillatory motion, rather than exclusively referring to up-and-down. But this may be one of those points of "proper usage" that is not always adhered to. – Michael Seifert Oct 21 '18 at 14:29
2

Undulate does not mean vertically rising and falling. An undulating road could just as easily refer to a road that swerves left to right, just as a snake's locomotion is described as undulating. This answer isn't wrong, but it is not common usage and is not what most people I know would think of when describing the road shown in the picture. – barbecue Oct 21 '18 at 16:10
3

@barbecue "Undulate" was the answer I immediately thought of when I saw the question title. (60-yo BrE native) – Martin Bonner supports Monica Oct 22 '18 at 13:10
@MartinBonner Fair enough, I'm from the southern US, and hilly is what people here say. Undulate can however mean winding or zig-zagging. It's used to describe the movements of snakes, tentacles, etc. – barbecue Oct 22 '18 at 13:11
"Undulating" was the first word I thought of upon reading the question too @MartinBonner , BrE native – Klors Oct 22 '18 at 16:21

score 70 · Answer 2 · answered Oct 19 '18 at 14:13

70

I would go with

Hilly

Characterized by hills; abounding in hills.

As in, "Are you sure we should take that road? Won't it be very hilly?"

answered Oct 19 '18 at 14:13

scohe001

3,028

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This is the term I would use to describe it, and the one I usually hear. – Herohtar Oct 19 '18 at 15:26
This is too generic and doesn't describe the situation in the photograph very well at all. – David Richerby Oct 21 '18 at 19:12
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@DavidRicherby Why not? I think it does. This is what most people would say. – user91988 Oct 22 '18 at 17:21
2

@only_pro "Hilly" just means characterized by hills. Any kind of hills at all. The road in question certainly has hills but "hilly" does nothing to suggest this repeated sequence of short up-and-down hills. It's like seeing somebody in a tuxedo and saying "They're wearing clothes": it's undeniably true but it doesn't convey any of the unusualness of the situation. – David Richerby Oct 22 '18 at 18:05
@DavidRicherby please note that "Hilly" also means "abounding in hills," which this road absolutely appears to be. – scohe001 Oct 22 '18 at 18:11
@scohe001 "Abounding in hills" has no significantly different meaning from "characterized by hills". "Hilly" is just saying "This road has hills". It's true but it's not going to make the reader think of the formation shown in the photograph. – David Richerby Oct 22 '18 at 18:16
@DavidRicherby "abounding" by definition means that there are a great number of hills: "To be plentiful; to exist or be present in large numbers or in great quantity; to prevail widely;..." but you've made your point and I don't think I can convince you otherwise. – scohe001 Oct 22 '18 at 18:20
@DavidRicherby Agreed. I'd still call this a hilly road, and I think most other people would too. – user91988 Oct 23 '18 at 15:14
@only_pro I think most people would even agree that it's just "a road". This doesn't mean that "a road" is a good description of this particular road. Anyway, I'm done bashing my head against the wall on this point. – David Richerby Oct 23 '18 at 16:19
@DavidRicherby Ok. I think most people would agree that hilly is a good description of this road. Do you have a better suggestion, or do you just want to complain about this answer? Feel free to downvote or write your own answer, but I don't understand why you're commenting. – user91988 Oct 23 '18 at 16:40
@only_pro If you downvote without commenting, people complain that you should explain yourself. If you downvote and comment, people complain that you should just downvote and move on. Basically, you can't win. – David Richerby Oct 23 '18 at 16:41
@DavidRicherby I think that's more of a site-specific thing. I know on IPS at least, commenting just to explain why you downvoted and disagree with an answer is strongly discouraged (meta post here). I'm not on ELU often enough to know their policy on the matter. – scohe001 Oct 23 '18 at 16:45

0xFEE1DEAD · Answer 3 · 2018-10-19T13:43:54.713

40

Rolling (OXD)

(of land) extending in gentle undulations. ‘the rolling countryside’

Alternatively, roller-coaster (MWD)

marked by numerous ups and downs an entertainer's roller-coaster career

edited Oct 19 '18 at 13:43

answered Oct 19 '18 at 12:49

0xFEE1DEAD

5,435

I would immediately think of something like the picture that the OP posted if I was told it was a "rolling road" – Michael J. Oct 19 '18 at 13:15
3

I would have guessed a "rolling road" was some kind of sliproad for vehicles with non-functional breaks to roll to a halt on. – Ruadhan2300 Oct 19 '18 at 13:17
Another use of rolling road is those car power and brake testers ;) – Trevor Christopher Butcher Oct 19 '18 at 13:28
6

I'm sorry, but this is a no-go. Rolling countryside but not rolling road. – Lambie Oct 19 '18 at 20:06
No. 'Rolling road' has another quite specific meaning. – Laurence Oct 20 '18 at 13:14
1

@Lambie, and yet, 'rolling road' was my first thought after reading only the title, and then after seeing the image hoping to add it as an answer. I am aware of what a rolling road is in the context of motor vehicles also. – Lamar Latrell Oct 21 '18 at 11:15
@Ruadhan2300 No, that's an escape lane. – David Richerby Oct 21 '18 at 19:12
3

@LaurencePayne Words and phrases can have more than one meaning. – David Richerby Oct 21 '18 at 19:13
Some meanings also have more than one word, or colloquial names. Though I don't disagree, Rolling Road is likely not used in my suggested context. – Ruadhan2300 Oct 22 '18 at 08:14
+1 for the roller-coaster reference. Any native English speaker should immediately understand the meaning. – Monty Harder Oct 22 '18 at 16:19
@MontyHarder thank you! As it turns out, the road in the picture is literally called Rollercoaster Highway – 0xFEE1DEAD Oct 22 '18 at 16:55

score 12 · Answer 4 · edited Jun 15 '20 at 07:40

12

Humpy

a. Having or characterized by humps; marked by protuberances; humped; hump-like.

One of the examples given in OED is:

1888 Co-operative News 4 Aug. 783 As the cars ascend and descend the humpy road.

(emphasis mine)

Also, the top result on a Google image search for "humpy road" returns:

(source)

edited Jun 15 '20 at 07:40

Community

1

answered Oct 19 '18 at 15:36

m-smith

911
2
8
15

2

A kid might say humpy but a newspaper would say hilly. – Lambie Oct 19 '18 at 20:05
4

Due to other popular colloquial usage, words involving "hump" are pretty much not useful or appropriate for anything else... – R.. GitHub STOP HELPING ICE Oct 20 '18 at 01:06
@R.. Agreed. I feel like in most conversations using this word would just make the whole thing awkward – MCMastery Oct 21 '18 at 17:24
Speed bumps in the UK are often called speed humps. "Humpy" isn't a word that tends to get used for roads (note that the OED's example is 130 years old) but, if it was, I'd expect speed humps, not rolling terrain. – David Richerby Oct 21 '18 at 19:14
"Speed humps" also appears on signs in many localities in the US, but it's an 100% sure sign that some dude in local government just enjoys being a pervert. – R.. GitHub STOP HELPING ICE Oct 21 '18 at 23:14
2

@R.. the verb "hump", as in slang for engaging in sexual activity, and the adjective "humpy", as in something that is like a hump, are two entirely different words. You seem to be unreasonably fixated on the former. I find it disturbing and mildly insulting that you assume ("100%") that a person who uses the word "hump" as an adjective is a pervert ("A person whose sexual behaviour or inclinations are regarded as abnormal and unacceptable." (source)). – m-smith Oct 22 '18 at 08:18
@oliver-clare: The comments here are not really a place for this discussion. My above comment with 100% and the responses should probably be moved to chat. – R.. GitHub STOP HELPING ICE Oct 22 '18 at 19:42

score 6 · Answer 5 · edited Jun 15 '20 at 07:40

6

Up-and-down road:

having an uneven surface:

up-and-down countryside. (Dictionary.com)

Ngram up-and-down road:

1) It is a curvy, up-and-down road.

2) Now cross over into Israel proper and continue another 10 km to Nazareth on the up-and-down road.

3) 'I'd even like to be on that drowned rat of a bus going north along an up-and- down road,' I said,

Also “wavy” is an adjective you may use:

Marked by or moving in a wavelike form or motion.

Wavy road in Chongqing - CCTV News …

edited Jun 15 '20 at 07:40

Community

1

answered Oct 19 '18 at 11:10

user 66974

67,349

The surface may be very even in fact. – Lambie Oct 19 '18 at 15:47

score 6 · Answer 6 · answered Oct 19 '18 at 12:21

6

Camelback can be used for this type of road

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/camelback

"Before the end you will be taken on a wild ride with a 540-degree helix, one spiral, a camelback hill and a carousel curve. — Julia Fawal, Woman's Day, "10 Things You Never Knew About Roller Coasters," 24 July 2015"

answered Oct 19 '18 at 12:21

werhweqhwqe4

77

#werh your quote appears to be describing an actual roller coaster, rather than a road that is like a roller coaster. Do you have one that uses 'camelback' applied to a road? – Trevor Christopher Butcher Oct 19 '18 at 12:52

score 4 · Answer 7 · answered Oct 19 '18 at 14:37

4

In Britain, we have road signs for such roads and are flagged by "Hidden dip" signs:

So you could say:

the road has a series of [hidden] dips

but this isn't the one word answer that you were looking for, so I would have to suggest a variant of Trevor's answer and say undulatory, as an adjective, even though this is normally used as undulatory locomotion.

Or... switchback?

answered Oct 19 '18 at 14:37

Greenonline

1,165

7

Not switchback. That is a road that zig zags up a steep hillside. – Jim Oct 19 '18 at 14:46
1

@Jim Interestingly enough the word switchback has more than one road-related meaning (first and third under transportation here) – James Oct 20 '18 at 21:27
@James - Yes it was a roller coaster that I had in mind when I suggested switchback, in particular the humps of a roller coaster. – Greenonline Oct 20 '18 at 21:30
@James - Regardless. If you use that meaning you will be misunderstood. – Jim Oct 20 '18 at 23:35
A dippy road, then? – Keith McClary Oct 21 '18 at 01:32
@KeithMcClary No. "Dippy" means foolish. – David Richerby Oct 21 '18 at 19:17

score 2 · Answer 8 · answered Oct 19 '18 at 14:27

2

When cycling we'd call an undulating section like that "lumpy" (example event)

answered Oct 19 '18 at 14:27

Chris H

21,709

i YAM GzORM · Answer 9 · 2018-10-19T19:54:48.283

2

A rippling road, as Rambling Rose would reply.

edited Oct 19 '18 at 19:54

answered Oct 19 '18 at 19:41

i YAM GzORM

37

score 1 · Answer 10 · answered Oct 20 '18 at 12:01

1

I don't think there is a term that is used for a road such as this, because roads are long and winding and ever changing. Thus any term would fail to describe the road in whole.

When I was a kid we use to have a couple of slang terms for stretches of road like this. Roller coaster road, and we called the up and downs "Whoopy-dos".

answered Oct 20 '18 at 12:01

Jon

111

There are former Roman roads still in use which are essentially straight and make no concessions for changing heights – Henry Oct 20 '18 at 23:08

score 0 · Answer 11 · answered Oct 21 '18 at 07:03

0

There is a track in south west Tasmania that crosses many of the spurs on the flank of Mt Picton, and as such it goes up and down many, many times. It is known as the Yo Yo Track, so a road can be said to yo yo or be a yo yoing road.

answered Oct 21 '18 at 07:03

Areel Xocha

138

score -1 · Answer 12 · answered Oct 22 '18 at 00:09

"Up-and-Down", "Undulating", and "Hilly" are all good words to describe this type of hill. Words such as "zig-zag" and "serpentine" imply a horizontal waviness, while "wavy" itself is too vague and can imply any possibility. Depending on if you're looking for an adjective to describe the road itself or an adverb to describe the path the road takes also expands the variety of words available to you for your usage.

score -2 · Answer 13 · answered Oct 19 '18 at 13:08

-2

A Sine might be a good word to represent this in a technological context.

Sinewaves are common when describing electrical currents or generated audio:

answered Oct 19 '18 at 13:08

Dalv Olan

121

6

One might describe a road as sinusoidal, but you'd be in danger of losing your reader with the relatively obscure mathematical term. It also holds no connotation of hills, a road that curves back and forth laterally is also sinusoidal. – Ruadhan2300 Oct 19 '18 at 13:19
2

It would be a good term for a magazine like The New Yorker. It all depends on who the audience is. – Lambie Oct 19 '18 at 15:49
A sine wave gets much steeper than an undulating road thus, so it's not even technically correct. – gerrit Oct 19 '18 at 18:44
4

@gerrit Try sin( x/10 ) – Jim Oct 20 '18 at 06:44
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One might as well just stick with "wave" and drop the "sine". – gerrit Oct 20 '18 at 09:24
@gerrit I agree that sine should be dropped, but sine waves aren't always steep. Just lower the amplitude and increase the wavelength and it'll be smoother. The regularity would be uncommon, but not unheard of. so this is absolutely technically correct, just odd. – Aethenosity Oct 22 '18 at 14:43

score -3 · Answer 14 · answered Oct 21 '18 at 07:52

-3

Undulated , sinusoidal

In Spanish is. Ondulado , sinusoide. In Paraguayan Spanish is a little weird! Is something like: full of ups and downs :“lleno de arribadas y bajeadas”

answered Oct 21 '18 at 07:52

Pablo Mera

9

4

I'm sorry but the answer "undulate" had already been supplied, and was accepted by the OP themself. Better luck next time! – Mari-Lou A Oct 21 '18 at 07:54

What do you call a road that goes up and down?

14 Answers14

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