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If someone abdicates, they give up their responsibility for something, such as a king’s transfer of power when he gives up his throne.

The acme of something is its highest point of achievement or excellence.

If you acquiesce to something, you allow it to happen by doing what someone wants without putting up a struggle or voicing your own concerns.

The apex of anything, such as an organization or system, is its highest part or most important position.

The apogee of something is its highest or greatest point, especially in reference to a culture or career.

The best or perfect example of something is its apotheosis; likewise, this word can be used to indicate the best or highest point in someone’s life or job.

A bravura performance, such as of a highly technical work for the violin, is done with consummate skill.

Someone cedes land or power to someone else by giving it to them, often because of political or military pressure.

If someone shows consummate skill at doing something, that person’s skill is very great or almost perfect in every way.

Debility is a state of being physically or mentally weak, usually due to illness.

A definitive opinion on an issue cannot be challenged; therefore, it is the final word or the most authoritative pronouncement on that issue.

Someone who is diffident is shy, does not want to draw notice to themself, and is lacking in self-confidence.

A dilettante is someone who frequently pursues an interest in a subject; nevertheless, they never spend the time and effort to study it thoroughly enough to master it.

When one country has dominion over another, it rules or controls it absolutely.

An echelon is one level of status or rank in an organization.

If you describe a person, group, or civilization as effete, you mean it is weak, exhausted, powerless, unproductive, and/or corrupt.

Efficacy is the ability or power to produce an expected effect or result.

Someone who is feckless is incompetent and lacks the determination or skill to achieve much of anything at all in life.

Hegemony manifests when a country, group, or organization has more political control or influence than others.

A hierarchy is a system of organization in a society, company, or other group in which people are divided into different ranks or levels of importance.

An impregnable fortress or castle is very difficult to defeat or overcome; an opinion or argument of that same quality is almost impossible to successfully change or challenge.

Someone who has an indomitable drive refuses to give up under any circumstances.

Someone who is ineffectual at a task is useless or ineffective when attempting to do it.

Something that has inestimable value or benefit has so much of it that it cannot be calculated.

If something is infallible, it is never wrong and so is incapable of making mistakes.

Someone, such as a performer or athlete, is inimitable when they are so good or unique in their talent that it is unlikely anyone else can be their equal.

A matriarch is an older and powerful woman who controls a family, community, or other social group.

The nadir of a situation is its lowest point.

Something nonpareil has no equal because it is much better than all others of its kind or type.

If something, such as a road, is occluded, it has been closed off or blocked; therefore, cars are prevented from continuing on their way until the road is opened once again.

A patriarch is a male leader of a family or tribe; a patriarch can also be a man who is the founder of a group or organization.

If someone reaches a pinnacle of something—such as a career or mountain—they have arrived at the highest point of it.

Something that is prodigious is very large, impressive, or great.

Something is quintessential when it is a perfect example of its type.

If you say that someone is servile, you don’t respect them because they are too obedient, too agreeable, and too willing to do anything for another person.

When you subdue something, such as an enemy or emotions, you defeat or bring them under control.

If someone subjugates a group of people or country, they conquer and bring it under control by force.

If you are subservient, you are too eager and willing to do what other people want and often put your own wishes aside.

If you surmount a problem or difficulty, you get the better of it by conquering or overcoming it.

Something that is transcendent not only surpasses all others in quality, achievement, or significance, but exceeds normal limits or boundaries.

A tyro has just begun learning something.

When you usurp someone else’s power, position, or role, you take it from them although you do not have the right to do so.

In the Middle Ages, a vassal was a worker who served a lord in exchange for land to live upon; today you are a vassal if you serve another and are largely controlled by them.

A virtuoso is someone who is very skillful at something, especially playing a musical instrument.

The zenith of something is its highest, most powerful, or most successful point.