Search Result for "acme":
Wordnet 3.0
NOUN (2)
1. the highest level or degree attainable; the highest stage of development;
- Example: "his landscapes were deemed the acme of beauty"
- Example: "the artist's gifts are at their acme"
- Example: "at the height of her career"
- Example: "the peak of perfection"
- Example: "summer was at its peak"
- Example: "...catapulted Einstein to the pinnacle of fame"
- Example: "the summit of his ambition"
- Example: "so many highest superlatives achieved by man"
- Example: "at the top of his profession"
[syn: acme, height, elevation, peak, pinnacle, summit, superlative, meridian, tiptop, top]
2. the highest point (of something);
- Example: "at the peak of the pyramid"
[syn: vertex, peak, apex, acme]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
acme \ac"me\ ([a^]k"m[-e]), n. [Gr. 'akmh` point, top.] 1. The top or highest point; the culmination. [1913 Webster] The very acme and pitch of life for epic poetry. --Pope. [1913 Webster] The moment when a certain power reaches the acme of its supremacy. --I. Taylor. [1913 Webster] 2. (Med.) The crisis or height of a disease. AS [1913 Webster] 3. Mature age; full bloom of life. --B. Jonson. [1913 Webster]Jargon File (4.4.4, 14 Aug 2003):
Acme n. [from Greek akme highest point of perfection or achievement] The canonical supplier of bizarre, elaborate, and non-functional gadgetry -- where Rube Goldberg and Heath Robinson (two cartoonists who specialized in elaborate contraptions) shop. The name has been humorously expanded as A (or American) Company Making Everything. (In fact, Acme was a real brand sold from Sears Roebuck catalogs in the early 1900s.) Describing some X as an "Acme X" either means "This is insanely great", or, more likely, "This looks insanely great on paper, but in practice it's really easy to shoot yourself in the foot with it." Compare pistol. This term, specially cherished by American hackers and explained here for the benefit of our overseas brethren, comes from the Warner Brothers' series of "Road-runner" cartoons. In these cartoons, the famished Wile E. Coyote was forever attempting to catch up with, trap, and eat the Road-runner. His attempts usually involved one or more high-technology Rube Goldberg devices -- rocket jetpacks, catapults, magnetic traps, high-powered slingshots, etc. These were usually delivered in large wooden crates labeled prominently with the Acme name -- which, probably not by coincidence, was the trade name of the animation rotation board used by cartoonists since forever. Acme devices invariably malfunctioned in improbable and violent ways.V.E.R.A. -- Virtual Entity of Relevant Acronyms (June 2006):
ACME A Company that Makes Everything (slang)U.S. Gazetteer (1990):
Acme, LA Zip code(s): 71316 Acme, PA Zip code(s): 15610 Acme, WA Zip code(s): 98220 Acme, WY Zip code(s): 82839Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:
127 Moby Thesaurus words for "acme": Olympian heights, acme of perfection, aerial heights, all, apex, apogee, apotheosis, authority, authorization, be-all and end-all, beau ideal, best type, blue ribbon, brow, cap, capstone, ceiling, championship, climax, cloud nine, command, consummation, control, crest, crown, culmen, culmination, cynosure, directorship, dizzy heights, dominion, edge, effectiveness, ego ideal, elevation, eminence, end, ether, extreme, extreme limit, extremity, first place, first prize, headship, heaven, heavens, hegemony, height, heights, hero, high noon, highest, highest degree, highest pitch, highest point, ideal, imperium, influence, jurisdiction, kingship, last word, leadership, lift, limit, lordship, management, mastership, mastery, maximum, meridian, mirror, most, mountaintop, ne plus ultra, new high, no place higher, noon, nth degree, palms, paragon, paramountcy, peak, perfection, pink, pink of perfection, pinnacle, pitch, point, pole, power, presidency, primacy, raise, record, ridge, rise, rising ground, rule, say, seventh heaven, shining example, sky, sovereignty, spire, steep, stratosphere, summit, supremacy, sway, the whole, tip, tip-top, top, top spot, ultimate, upmost, upper extremity, uppermost, uprise, utmost, utmost extent, uttermost, vantage ground, vantage point, vertex, very top, zenith
