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acme

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
See also: ACME, Acme, and acmé

English

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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Directly borrowed from Ancient Greek ἀκμή (akmḗ, “point, high point”).

Pronunciation

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Noun

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acme (plural acmes)

  1. 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. [c. 1610]
    Synonyms: see Thesaurus:apex
  2. A paragon: a person or thing representing such a high point. [c. 1610]
    • 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:
      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;...
  3. (rare) Full bloom or reproductive maturity.
  4. (euphemistic) Sexual orgasm.
    • 1963, Albert Ellis, If This Be Sexual Heresy, page 120:
      [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.
    • 1987, Jeanne de Berg, Women's Rites:
      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).
    • 2012, Alexander Lowen, The Language of the Body: Physical Dynamics of Character Structure:
      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.
  5. (medicine) Synonym of crisis, the decisive moment in the course of an illness.
  6. Alternative letter-case form of Acme, particularly as a threading format.

Derived terms

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Translations

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References

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Anagrams

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Italian

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Etymology

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Derived from Ancient Greek ἀκμή (akmḗ).[1] Compare French acmé.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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acme f or (proscribed[2]) m (plural acmi)

  1. acme, apex
    Synonyms: apice, culmine, sommità
  2. (medicine) acme

References

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  1. ^ acme in garzantilinguistica.it – Garzanti Linguistica, De Agostini Scuola Spa
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 acme in Bruno Migliorini et al., Dizionario d'ortografia e di pronunzia, Rai Eri, 2007

Further reading

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  • acme in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana
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