pinnacle
pronunciation
How to pronounce pinnacle in British English:
UK [ˈpɪnəkl]
How to pronounce pinnacle in American English:
US [ˈpɪnəkəl]
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- Noun:
- (architecture) a slender upright spire at the top of a buttress of tower
- the highest level or degree attainable
- a lofty peak
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- Verb:
- surmount with a pinnacle
- raise on or as if on a pinnacle
Word Origin
- pinnacle
- pinnacle: see pin
- pinnacle (n.)
- c. 1300, "mountain, peak, promontory," from Old French pinacle "top, gable" (13c.) and directly from Late Latin pinnaculum "peak, pinnacle, gable," extended form (via diminutive suffix, but not necessarily implying smallness) of Latin pinna "peak, point," (see pin (n.1)). Figurative use is attested from c. 1400.
Example
- 1. Dai li emerged from the war at the pinnacle of his power .
- 2. He took an odd route to the pinnacle of fashion .
- 3. Focus enhancements new wireless technology delivers the pinnacle of wireless audio : uncompressed 7.1-channel surround sound .
- 4. In the third wave , the tofflers foresaw that advanced societies would no longer be content to see humankind as the pinnacle of evolution .
- 5. Books , once considered the the pinnacle of human civilization , have slowly gone into retreat .