(L. slope or hill): The inclined anterior bony wall of the posterior cranial fossa formed by the occipital and sphenoid bones. The brainstem rest on the clivus.

A triangular bone, that slopes upward from the foramen magnum to the dorsum sellae, in the posterior cranial fossa. ( clivus = "wedge" or "slide") image

Clivus, Latin for "inclination", is a composting toilet system with an inclined bottom. Clivus Multrum is an inclining composting room, which was first built as a prototype 1939 in Tyresö, Sweden by art teacher Rikard Lindström.

Behind the dorsum sellæ is a shallow depression, the clivus, which slopes obliquely backward, and is continuous with the groove on the basilar portion of the occipital bone; it supports the upper part of the pons.