Reference.com

68 results for: Pinnacle

Dictionary Entries (9 more entries. View all »)
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source
pin·na·cle    Audio Help   [pin-uh-kuhl] Pronunciation Key noun, verb, -cled, -cling.
–noun
1.a lofty peak.
2.the highest or culminating point, as of success, power, fame, etc.: the pinnacle of one's career.
3.any pointed, towering part or formation, as of rock.
4.Architecture. a relatively small, upright structure, commonly terminating in a gable, a pyramid, or a cone, rising above the roof or coping of a building, or capping a tower, buttress, or other projecting architectural member.
–verb (used with object)
5.to place on or as on a pinnacle.
6.to form a pinnacle on; crown.
[Origin: 1300–50; ME pinacle < MF < LL pinnāculum gable, equiv. to L pinn(a) raised part of a parapet, lit., wing, feather (see pinna) + -āculum; see tabernacle]

—Synonyms 2. apex, acme, summit, zenith. 3. needle.
—Antonyms 2. base.
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

Thesaurus Entries
  Roget's II: The New Thesaurus - Cite This Source
Main Entry:  climax
Part of Speech:  noun
Definition:  The highest point or state.
Synonyms:  acme, apex, apogee, crest, crown, culmination, height, meridian, peak, summit, top, zenith
Source:  Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition
by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary.
Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.


Encyclopedia Articles (56 more entries. View all »)
Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia - Cite This Source

pinnacle, minor architectural motif of vertical tapering shape, usually crowning a pier, buttress, or gable. Although sometimes it appears in Renaissance design, as in the Certosa di Pavia, it is almost exclusively a medieval form, originating in the late Romanesque and becoming common in Gothic. Topping the piers of the flying buttresses of side aisles and choirs, pinnacles weighted the pier and thus counteracted the thrust of the flying arch, while furnishing also effective vertical adornments. With the advance of the Gothic, pinnacles appeared in all parts of the church. In France they multiplied and assumed the widest variety of forms, adorned with gables, tracery, colonnettes, and canopied niches and culminating in a richly crocketed finial. In England they were far less important and remained relatively simple.

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia Copyright © 2004, Columbia University Press.
Licensed from Columbia University Press


View results from: Dictionary | Thesaurus | Encyclopedia | All Reference | the Web

Perform a new search, or try your search for "Pinnacle" at: