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• ace
  ace

  noun

  a playing card or die marked with or having the value indicated by a single spot.
• ACE
  ACE

  abbreviation

  American Council on Education.

ace

¹ American  

[ays] / eɪs /

noun

1. a playing card or die marked with or having the value indicated by a single spot.

   He dealt me four aces in the first hand.

2. a single spot or mark on a playing card or die.

3. (in tennis, badminton, handball, etc.)

   1. Also called service ace. a placement made on a service.

   2. any placement.

   3. a serve that the opponent fails to touch.

   4. the point thus scored.

4. a fighter pilot credited with destroying a prescribed number or more of enemy aircraft, usually five, in combat.

5. a very skilled person; expert; adept.

   an ace at tap dancing.

6. Slang. a one-dollar bill.

7. Slang. a close friend.

8. Golf.

   1. Also called hole in one. a shot in which the ball is driven from the tee into the hole in one stroke.

      He hit a 225-yard ace on the first hole.

   2. a score of one stroke made on such a shot.

      to card an ace.

9. Slang. a barbiturate or amphetamine capsule or pill.

10. a very small quantity, amount, or degree; a particle.

    not worth an ace.

11. Slang. a grade of A; the highest grade or score.

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verb (used with object)

• aces,
  present (3rd person singular)
• aced,
  past participle,  past
• acing
  present participle

1. (in tennis, badminton, handball, etc.) to win a point against (one's opponent) by an ace.

2. Golf. to make an ace on (a hole).

3. Slang. to cheat, defraud, or take advantage of (often followed byout ).

   to be aced out of one's inheritance;

   friend who aced me out of a good job.

4. Slang.

   1. to receive a grade of A, as on a test or in a course (sometimes followed byout ).

   2. to complete easily and successfully.

      He aced every physical fitness test they gave him.

adjective

1. Sometimes aces excellent; first-rate; outstanding.

verb phrase

1. ace it to accomplish something with complete success.

   a champion who could ace it every time.

idioms

1. ace up one's sleeve, an important, effective, or decisive argument, resource, or advantage kept in reserve until needed.

2. easy aces, aces equally divided between opponents.

3. be aces with, to be highly regarded by.

   The boss says you're aces with him.

4. within an ace of, within a narrow margin of; close to.

   He came within an ace of winning.

ace ² American  

[ays] / eɪs /

noun

1. a person who experiences little or no sexual attraction to other people; asexual.

   She's an ace, but she's had a couple of romantic relationships.

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adjective

1. experiencing little or no sexual attraction to other people.

   As someone who identifies as ace, this article gave me much food for thought.

ACE ³ American  

abbreviation

1. American Council on Education.

2. Army Corps of Engineers.

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ace ¹ British  

/ eɪs /

noun

1. any die, domino, or any of four playing cards with one spot

2. a single spot or pip on a playing card, die, etc

3. tennis a winning serve that the opponent fails to reach

4. golf a hole in one

5. a fighter pilot accredited with destroying several enemy aircraft

6. informal an expert or highly skilled person

   an ace at driving

7. a hidden and powerful advantage

8. to have all the advantages or power

9. to use one's best weapon or resource

10. almost to the point of

    he came within an ace of winning

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adjective

1. informal superb; excellent

verb

1. tennis to serve an ace against

2. golf to play (a hole) in one stroke

3. to perform extremely well or score very highly in (an examination, etc)

ACE ² British  

/ eɪs /

acronym

1. (in Britain) Advisory Centre for Education; a private organization offering advice on schools to parents

2. Allied Command Europe

3. angiotensin-converting enzyme See ACE inhibitor

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ace More Idioms  

More idioms and phrases containing ace

• hold all the aces
• within an ace of

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Other Word Forms

Inflected Forms

Participles

• acing
  present
• aced
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• ace
  simple
• aces
  simple
• have aced
  perfect
• has aced
  perfect
• am acing
  progressive
• are acing
  progressive
• is acing
  progressive
• have been acing
  perfect progressive
• has been acing
  perfect progressive

Past

• aced
  simple
• had aced
  perfect
• was acing
  progressive
• were acing
  progressive
• had been acing
  perfect progressive

Future

• will ace
  simple
• will have aced
  perfect
• will be acing
  progressive
• will have been acing
  perfect progressive

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Etymology

Origin of ace¹

First recorded in 1250–1300, in 1795–1800 ace ¹ for def. 5; from Middle English as, aas, ais, from Old French as, from Latin ass- (stem of as ) “a copper coin (originally weighing one pound), unit (of money, weight)”; sense 4 was taken directly from French as in World War I, and sense 5 developed from sense 4; see origin at as ²

Origin of ace²

First recorded in 2005–10; shortening of asexual ( def. )

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Explanation

An ace is a playing card with the highest value in a deck. There are four aces in a full deck of cards, each with a single heart, spade, diamond, or club pictured on it. Ace can also describe someone who's excellent at a particular skill: "He's an ace at making homemade jam!" In tennis, an ace is a point scored on a missed serve, and in golf it's a hole in one. When you ace something, you do a great job: "Just get in there and ace that math test today!" The earliest meaning was "one at dice," from the Latin as, "a unit, one, or a whole."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

ace ACE aces aced acing

Bauers delivered the knockout blow in Milwaukee’s 6-2 victory on Wednesday, smashing a go-ahead, two-run home run off ace Blake Snell to give the Brewers a lead they would never relinquish.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 15, 2026

“I think we’ve got the best talent in the league,” Yankees ace Cam Schlittler said.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 8, 2026

The Dodgers are batting .215 through the first two games of the NLDS, with the Atlanta Braves scheduled to pitch left-handed ace Chris Sale in Game 3 on Tuesday.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 6, 2026

But Weiss did not know, immediately after Saturday’s loss, when he’d be able to deploy his sole ace, 37-year-old Chris Sale, the 10-time All-Star who just pitched in the Braves’ Game 3 wild-card closeout.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 4, 2026

Theo threw a complete game, striking out nine and giving up only two hits, just like the ace of a staff is supposed to.

From "A High Five for Glenn Burke" by Phil Bildner

Both groups also continued receiving standard treatment with ACE inhibitors or angiotensin receptor blockers.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 16, 2026

An ACE score, identifying the severity of early trauma, is now routinely used in clinical settings and shapes decisions about trauma therapy.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 26, 2026

“Attempts to resolve these technical concerns with ACE Help Desk support have been slow, and certain login or other ACE account issues for importers remain unresolved.”

From MarketWatch ● Apr. 20, 2026

In response to the report, ACE said it was "heartened to read of the 'overwhelming' backing for the principles - of excellence and access - that underpin our strategy, Let's Create".

From BBC ● Dec. 16, 2025

Marcus adjusted the ACE bandage on his knee.

From "Here to Stay" by Sara Farizan

And if Glasnow can rescue the Dodgers, they would have their three high-paid aces — Skubal, Yamamoto and Snell — lined up for the next three elimination games.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 15, 2026

Some aces are portrayed as more equal than others.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 13, 2026

Against world number 48 Kalinina, Kartal served four aces and won 23 of 30 points when landing her first serve.

From BBC ● Oct. 12, 2026

Rybakina leads all WTA players in aces this season, while no one has won a higher percentage of points behind her first serve than Sabalenka.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 12, 2026

“He’s like one of those flying aces from World War I who would just throw the bombs at their targets like hand grenades,” I said.

From "Dead End in Norvelt" by Jack Gantos

He then aced the fifth hole at Harding Golf Course on Thursday.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 10, 2026

Levito, skating in her mother’s hometown of Milan where her grandmother still lives, calmly aced her Olympic debut with a score of 70.84 that put her in eighth place.

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 17, 2026

They placed him on a track for software development after he aced the exams to get into an elite middle school that fed to a top university.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 16, 2026

The same AI that aced the genius test can’t count how many times the letter “R” appears in “strawberry.”

From MarketWatch ● Nov. 3, 2025

Not when I aced every test he gave or finished at the top of every simulation.

From "Glitch" by Laura Martin

Lowry had a hole-in-one on No. 6, a decade after acing the 16th.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 11, 2026

Meanwhile he brags about acing three different cognitive tests in the last year.

From Salon ● Jan. 2, 2026

For years, high-schoolers have boasted in college applications about learning Latin, leading the chess club or acing Advanced Placement Physics.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 25, 2025

He rose fast and steep - acing trials for Kent, London and the South East and England Counties - excelling at every level.

From BBC ● Sep. 18, 2024

We both ended up acing the test, but that episode kind of took the excitement out of climbing and pilfering tests and pretty much everything else.

From "Anthem of a Reluctant Prophet" by Joanne Proulx

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