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The acme of something is its highest point of achievement or excellence.
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.
If someone shows consummate skill at doing something, that person’s skill is very great or almost perfect in every way.
A decadent person has low moral standards and is more interested in pleasure than serious matters.
A denouement is the end of a book, play, or series of events when everything is explained and comes to a conclusion.
If something is done for someone’s edification, it is done to benefit that person by teaching them something that improves or enlightens their knowledge or character.
If you describe a person, group, or civilization as effete, you mean it is weak, exhausted, powerless, unproductive, and/or corrupt.
If something enervates you, it makes you very tired and weak—almost to the point of collapse.
Someone who is feckless is incompetent and lacks the determination or skill to achieve much of anything at all in life.
Something is flaccid when it is unpleasantly soft and weak, hangs limply, or lacks vigor and energy.
If something is your forte, you are very good at it or know a lot about it.
If you describe ideas as jejune, you are saying they are childish and uninteresting; the adjective jejune also describes those having little experience, maturity, or knowledge.
The nadir of a situation is its lowest point.
If something is obsolescent, it is slowly becoming no longer needed because something newer or more effective has been invented.
If someone is pallid, they look very pale in an unattractive and unhealthy way.
If someone reaches a pinnacle of something—such as a career or mountain—they have arrived at the highest point of it.
Something is quintessential when it is a perfect example of its type.
If you surmount a problem or difficulty, you get the better of it by conquering or overcoming it.
A tyro has just begun learning something.
Something in the vanguard is in the leading spot of something, such as an army or institution.
Noun
zenith
ZEE-nith
Context
The sun had reached its zenith, straight over our heads. It was so hot I thought I’d pass out, but our leader’s enthusiasm for the hike had not yet reached its zenith or topmost point, so he unfortunately urged us on. After miles of marching our agony reached its zenith or climax when we accidentally stumbled into a nest of wasps. We never did reach the zenith, or summit, of the mountain to which we had been hiking.
Quiz:Try again!
What is an example of someone who has reached a zenith?
A bus driver who turns down a street only to discover it’s a dead end, and they have to turn around.
A mountain climber who has reached the highest peak they’ve ever climbed.
A lawyer who has decided to quit their job because they don’t enjoy it anymore.
Judith Reaches ZenZenith Judith had been practicing Zen principles for a lifetime when she finally, after having turned a century in age, reached the Zenzenith of blissful enlightenment.
Examples
The zenith of [Harry Walker's] career was the double (to left center, of course) that spurred Enos Slaughter home with the winning run in the 1946 World Series.
—
Sports Illustrated
This legacy sprang from the interaction of cultures; from a period of cultural zenith, when Christians, Muslims and Jews found a common language which flourished as the medium of statecraft, art and science.
—
Harper's Magazine
The garden is a re-creation of one of the botanical havens built by the social elite during the Ming Dynasty, when the art of classical gardens reached its zenith in Suzhou.
—
Los Angeles Times
Word Ingredients
From word roots meaning “a path over one’s head.” The zenith is the topmost point of something, or the point directly “over one’s head” in the sky.
origin: Arabic
Knowing language of origin or etymology is not important; but is sometimes interesting enough to make the word memorable. Only such words have associated maps.
Word Theater
Top of Mt. Everest Climbers achieve success by reaching the zenith of the tallest mountain on Earth.
The panel shows a small video clip of either the word in actual use or a scene that represents the meaning of a word. This not only breaks up the monotony of studying words but also provides another avenue to strengthen word meaning. Enjoy!
