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apex

[ey-peks]
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noun, plural a·pex·es, a·pi·ces [ey-puh-seez, ap-uh-] /ˈeɪ pəˌsiz, ˈæp ə-/.
  1. the tip, point, or vertex; summit.
  2. climax; peak; acme: His election to the presidency was the apex of his career.
  3. Astronomy. solar apex.

Origin of apex

Borrowed into English from Latin around 1595–1605
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for apexes

Historical Examples

  • The leading design is naturally the Herati, and again one sees the palm leaf with its apexes all pointing in the same direction.

    Rugs: Oriental and Occidental, Antique & Modern

    Rosa Belle Holt

  • Their apexes will probably come at about K and M in Fig. 208.

    Toy-Making in School and Home

    Ruby Kathleen Polkinghorne and Mabel Irene Rutherford Polkinghorne

  • It has two cone-shaped superimposed glass globes connected at their apexes through a small opening.

    Time Telling through the Ages

    Harry Chase Brearley

  • It was the duplicating lines of the departing sun, upon the castellated rocks, as they pierced between the apexes and the basin.

    Mal Moule

    Ella Wheeler Wilcox

  • The centre gable overlaps the portal beneath, and the apexes of the two side gables are beyond the middle of the two side portals.

    Cathedral Cities of Italy

    William Wiehe Collins

British Dictionary definitions for apexes

APEX

n acronym for
  1. Advance Purchase Excursion: a reduced airline or long-distance rail fare that must be paid a specified number of days in advance
  2. (in Britain) Association of Professional, Executive, Clerical, and Computer Staff

apex

noun plural apexes or apices (ˈæpɪˌsiːz, ˈeɪ-)
  1. the highest point; vertex
  2. the pointed end or tip of something
  3. a pinnacle or high point, as of a career, etc
  4. Also called: solar apex astronomy the point on the celestial sphere, lying in the constellation Hercules, towards which the sun appears to move at a velocity of 20 kilometres per second relative to the nearest stars

Word Origin

C17: from Latin: point
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for apexes

apex

n.

c.1600, from Latin apex "summit, peak, tip, top, extreme end;" probably related to apere "to fasten, fix," hence "the tip of anything" (one of the meanings in Latin was "small rod at the top of the flamen's cap"), from PIE *ap- "to take, reach." Proper plural is apices.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
apexes in Medicine

apex

(ā′pĕks)
n. pl. a•pex•es
  1. The pointed end of a conical or pyramidal structure.
The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
apexes in Science

apex

[ā′pĕks]
  1. The highest point, especially the vertex of a triangle, cone, or pyramid.
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.