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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  

[eys] / 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  

[eys] / 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

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. )

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

Rybakina served out the win with an ace of her own – her sixth of the match and tour-leading 363rd of the season.

From BBC ● Sep. 1, 2026

But it’s ludicrous that the country’s ace legal reporters never provided the public even an inkling of these legal defects.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 27, 2026

Runner-up Rybakina had one ace and four double faults, hitting just 13 winners and making 23 unforced errors in total.

From BBC ● Aug. 14, 2026

The findings represent the latest in a flurry of publicly disclosed instances of AI models taking novel steps—including some that are nefarious—to ace tests.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 5, 2026

Daito didn’t hesitate to use the ace up his sleeve.

From "Ready Player One: A Novel" by Ernest Cline

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

From Science Daily ● Jul. 16, 2026

Kelsey Christensen, a trade attorney at law firm Clark Hill, also noted problems with ACE accounts.

From MarketWatch ● Apr. 20, 2026

She recommended that ACE should survive but that there should be new local and regional decision-making boards to decide on funding for local arts organisations.

From BBC ● Dec. 16, 2025

For hurricanes, this means using metrics like accumulated cyclone energy, or ACE, which integrates the number, strength and duration of all tropical storms.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 3, 2025

Marcus adjusted the ACE bandage on his knee.

From "Here to Stay" by Sara Farizan

Not everybody aces every Advanced Placement exam, though overwhelmingly they pass the state’s standardized tests, and according to Success Academy every graduate in recent years has been accepted to a four-year college.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 5, 2026

More: For 44 years, this investor held aces in the long-bond game.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 28, 2026

If he teams up with Jacob Misiorowski or Chris Sale in a five-game divisional round they could face three games against aces.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 18, 2026

Osaka landed just 53% of her first serves and was broken on four occasions, while Sabalenka won 83% of points on her first serve - helped by 12 aces.

From BBC ● Jul. 5, 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

SoFi Stadium aced the physical infrastructure with working elevators, wheelchair escorts and accessible seating with clear sightlines on every level.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 16, 2026

The two nations have almost identical populations, so how have the Scandinavians aced their plan of attack?

From BBC ● Jul. 7, 2026

Crucially, the United States aced its only chance to make a first impression, kicking off this colossal World Cup it’s co-hosting with Mexico and Canada with a 4-1 victory over Paraguay.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 13, 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

Using all of that twisting and flexing and concentration, she smashed the ball and aced the Lady Gorillas.

From "The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian" by Sherman Alexie

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

“Now I have bragging rights with my friends,” Hirasaki said after acing the test on her first try.

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 15, 2024

If your kid was supersmart and acing tests, it was forgiven that he never hit a home run or scored a goal.

From "Millionaires for the Month" by Stacey McAnulty

Related Words

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