acme
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈæk.mi/
Forms: form: acmes
form: achma
form: acmè
form: akme
form: achme
Etymology: Directly borrowed from Ancient Greek ἀκμή (akmḗ, “point, high point”).
Senses: examples: text: The Latin tong, euen whan it was, as the Grecians say, in ακμη, that is, at the hiest pitch of all perfitenesse.
ref: 1570, Roger Ascham, The Scholemaster, f. 31:
text: Eum.: Our Loves what are they
But howerly Sacrifices, only wanting
The prease and tumult of Solemnity?
If then i'th' heat and Achme of Devotion
We drink a new fiame in, can it be ought
But to increase the Worship?
ref: 1651, William Cartwright, “The Lady Errant”, in Comedies Tragi-comedies with Other Poems:
text: Ah, what a sight burst upon our astonished eyes as we gained its summit!
It seemed the very acme of mountain glory in all the glories around us.
ref: 1891, George Edward Mannering, With Axe and Rope in the New Zealand Alps, Chapter VII, p. 71:
text: The moment when a certain power reaches the acme of its supremacy.
ref: 1832, [Isaac Taylor], Saturday Evening. […], London: Holdsworth and Ball, →OCLC:
synonyms: word: acme
word: apex
word: zenith
word: apogee
word: apotheosis
word: ascendance
word: capstone
word: climax
word: coronation
word: crown
word: culmination
word: Everest
word: extreme
word: fastigium
word: high note
word: high point
word: high tide
word: high-water mark
word: midday
word: outblossom
word: paroxysm
word: perihelion
word: pinnacle
word: summa
word: summit
glosses: A high point: the highest point of any range, the most developed stage of any process, or the culmination of any field or historical period.
examples: text: The few words of advice she gave him as to escaping political embarrassments, struck him as the acme of wisdom, and as indicating an interest in his well-being of the kindest description;...
ref: 1842, [anonymous collaborator of Letitia Elizabeth Landon], “(please specify the page)”, in Lady Anne Granard; or, Keeping up Appearances. […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, pages 260–261:
glosses: A paragon: a person or thing representing such a high point.
examples: text: He must be one that can instruct your youth,
And keep your acme in the state of truth
ref: 1625 (first performance), Ben[jamin] Jonson, The Staple of Newes. […], London: […] I[ohn] B[eale] for Robert Allot […], published 1631, →OCLC, (please specify the page), (please specify the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals):
text: The very acme and pitch of life for epic poesy.
ref: 1728, [Alexander Pope], “(please specify the page)”, in The Dunciad. An Heroic Poem. […], Dublin; London: […] A. Dodd, →OCLC:
glosses: Full bloom or reproductive maturity.
examples: text: [He] then holds back his own climax for another ten or fifteen minutes of active copulation until his mate signals him that she is about to reach her acme; then they both ecstatically erupt together.
ref: 1963, Albert Ellis, If This Be Sexual Heresy, page 120:
text: She has enough of the narcissist in her to love exhibiting herself and to have the exhibition itself arouse her and bring her to her acme (that's very literary, even a little affected, but it's a word that pleases me).
ref: 1987, Jeanne de Berg, Women's Rites:
text: He reached a climax about one minute after penetration and as this was always much sooner than his partner reached her acme this disturbed him.
ref: 2012, Alexander Lowen, The Language of the Body: Physical Dynamics of Character Structure:
glosses: Sexual orgasm.
topics: medicine
sciences
glosses: Synonym of crisis, the decisive moment in the course of an illness.
synonyms: word: crisis
extra: the decisive moment in the course of an illness
glosses: Alternative letter-case form of Acme, particularly as a threading format.
Derived terms: acmatic
acmic
synacme