acme

See also: ACME, Acme, and acmé

English

Alternative forms

• achma, acmè, akme, achme (obsolete)

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈæk.mi/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

Noun

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

   • 1570, Roger Ascham, The Scholemaster, f. 31:

     The Latin tong, euen whan it was, as the Grecians say, in ακμη, that is, at the hiest pitch of all perfitenesse.

   • 1651, William Cartwright, “The Lady Errant”, in Comedies Tragi-comedies with Other Poems:

     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?

   • 1891, George Edward Mannering, With Axe and Rope in the New Zealand Alps, Chapter VII, p. 71:

     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.

   • 1832, [Isaac Taylor], Saturday Evening. […], London: Holdsworth and Ball, →OCLC:

     The moment when a certain power reaches the acme of its supremacy.

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.
   • 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):

     He must be one that can instruct your youth,
     And keep your acme in the state of truth

   • 1728, [Alexander Pope], “(please specify the page)”, in The Dunciad. An Heroic Poem. […], Dublin; London: […] A. Dodd, →OCLC:

     The very acme and pitch of life for epic poesy.

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

• acmatic
• acmic
• synacme

Translations

the highest point

Bulgarian: връхна точка (vrǎhna točka) Catalan: acme (ca) f Chinese: 最高点 (zh), 最高峰 (zh) (zuìgāofēng)，巅峰 (zh) (diānfēng) Dutch: hoogtepunt (nl) n Finnish: huippu (fi), huippukohta French: acmé (fr) f German: Höhepunkt (de) m, Gipfel (de) m Greek: απόγειο (el) n (apógeio) Icelandic: hápunktur (is) m Italian: acme (it) f, climax (it) m, apice (it) m, culmine (it) m Ottoman Turkish: تپه (tepe), قمه (kımme) Russian: пик (ru) m (pik), кульминация (ru) f (kulʹminacija) Sanskrit: शिरस् (sa) n (śíras) Spanish: acmé (es) m or f, apogeo (es) m, cúspide (es) f Swedish: höjdpunkt (sv), kulmen (sv) Ukrainian: кульмінація (uk) f (kulʹminacija), пік m (pik), апоге́й (uk) m (apohéj)

full bloom

Bulgarian: разцвет (bg) (razcvet) French: force de l'âge (fr) f German: Blüte des Lebens f Italian: colmo (it) m, apogeo (it) m Russian: расцвет (ru) m (rascvet) Swedish: kulm

the crisis or height of a disease

Spanish: acmé (es) m or f

peak of a disease

Finnish: huippu (fi), akme (fi)

References

• “acme, n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2021.
• “acme”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• “acme”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

Anagrams

• ECMA, EMAC, Mace, Mače, came, eMac, mace