apex
noun
the tip, point, or vertex; summit.
apex
1 American
[ay-peks]
/ ˈeɪ pɛks /
noun
-
apexes,
plural
-
apices
plural
-
the tip, point, or vertex; summit.
-
climax; peak; acme.
His election to the presidency was the apex of his career.
-
Astronomy. solar apex.
APEX
2
American
[ay-peks]
/ ˈeɪ pɛks /
noun
apex
1
British
/ ˈeɪpɛks /
noun
-
the highest point; vertex
-
the pointed end or tip of something
-
a pinnacle or high point, as of a career, etc
-
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
APEX
2
British
/ ˈeɪpɛks /
acronym
-
Advance Purchase Excursion: a reduced airline or long-distance rail fare that must be paid a specified number of days in advance
-
(in Britain) Association of Professional, Executive, Clerical, and Computer Staff
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of apex1
Borrowed into English from Latin around 1595–1605
Origin of APEX2
First recorded in 1970–75; A(dvance) P(urchase) Ex(cursion)
Explanation
When there's no mountain left to climb and nothing but blue sky above, you know you've reached the highest peak — the apex. Apex can mean the highest point in a literal sense, like climbing to the apex of the Eiffel Tower for a fabulous view of Paris. It also can be used to mean the highest point in a figurative sense. An actor who wins an Oscar can say she's reached the apex of her career. If you're describing more than one high point, you could add an -es to form the plural apexes, but apices would also be correct. And if you're a botanist, you'd probably use apex to describe the tip of a flower or leaf.
Vocabulary lists containing apex
"The Book Thief" by Markus Zusak, Part Four
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Ender's Game
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50th Anniversary of the March on Washington: "Trying to Inspire a New Generation" by Trip Gabriel
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
But at his career’s apex, Curry conveyed a novella’s worth of feeling through a flexible expressiveness that made him a theatrical force.
From Salon ● Aug. 26, 2026
Describing the company as a “haloscaler,” Deutsche Bank analysts told clients before earnings that SpaceX “represents in our view the apex of civilizational ambition.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 6, 2026
After being hunted to extinction a century ago, gray wolves are continuing their remarkable comeback story in California, with state wildlife officials reporting a modern record number of the apex predators in 2025.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 1, 2026
Killer whales are highly intelligent apex predators and have been known to play with their prey and deploy sophisticated tactics to ensnare them.
From Barron's ● Jul. 23, 2026
Gritting his teeth, he made it to the apex of the arch.
From "Redwall" by Brian Jacques
Under APEX, as the ar rangement is called, passengers who buy their tickets 90 days ahead of time would receive substantial fare reductions.
From Time Magazine Archive
In the next few days, more than 100 Grunwick employees joined APEX.
From Time Magazine Archive
In Montreal, the West Germans argued that the new fares, especially APEX, would only add confusion to the tangle of transatlantic fares already in effect.
From Time Magazine Archive
Stroll said: "The car was feeling good throughout the session. Q3 was really tricky, I had a few lock-ups and missed some apexes, but good enough for a top three."
From BBC ● Nov. 3, 2023
“But you’re busy, you’re consumed. Gone on the early years of just hitting the apexes and enjoying the speed.”
From Washington Times ● May 22, 2022
The result stands among the vertiginous apexes of film history, with Sewell’s editing providing the rhythmic emotion that cements the film’s status as one of the greatest of all time.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 7, 2021
The average plant leaf grows from the plant’s apexes, or the tippy-tops of its stem and branches.
From New York Times ● Jul. 31, 2021
These apexes are established in our representation by describing a circle—the plane projection of the hyper-sphere—about the central point of intersection of the axes.
From Architecture and Democracy by Claude Fayette Bragdon
It also exhibits a remarkable asymmetric condition of the neural spines where they alternate from having transversely compressed apices to apices that are expanded to the right.
From Scientific American ● Jan. 10, 2013
The carbon atoms he figures at the apices of a hexagon, the benzene "ring."
From Time Magazine Archive
Among the latter there is always a series of dark triangular spots, with apices pointing towards the hind margin.
From Butterflies and Moths (British) by William S. Furneaux
The Megaphone of Edison appeared, consisting of two large funnels having elastic conducting tubes from their apices to the aural orifice.
From Inventions in the Century by William Henry Doolittle
Third unicuspid usually smaller than fourth; upper unicuspids usually with pigmented ridge extending from apices medially to cingula, uninterrupted by antero-posterior groove; post-mandibular foramen usually absent.
From Speciation of the Wandering Shrew by James S. Findley
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
