pinnacle

American  

[pin-uh-kuhl] / ˈpɪn ə kəl /

noun

• pinnacles
  plural

1. 

   a lofty peak.

2. the highest or culminating point, as of success, power, fame, etc..

   the pinnacle of one's career.

   Synonyms:

   zenith, summit, peak, acme, apex

   Antonyms:

   nadir

3. any pointed, towering part or formation, as of rock.

   Synonyms:

   needle

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.

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verb (used with object)

pinnacled, pinnacling

1. to place on or as on a pinnacle.

2. to form a pinnacle on; crown.

pinnacle British  

/ ˈpɪnəkəl /

noun

1. the highest point or level, esp of fame, success, etc

2. a towering peak, as of a mountain

3. a slender upright structure in the form of a cone, pyramid, or spire on the top of a buttress, gable, or tower

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verb

1. to set on or as if on a pinnacle

2. to furnish with a pinnacle or pinnacles

3. to crown with a pinnacle

Usage

What does pinnacle mean? A pinnacle is the highest point of something, especially success or fame. The pinnacle of a person’s career, for example, is the point at which they are most successful in their field. In a literal sense, a pinnacle is a tall peak of a mountain. In architecture, a pinnacle is an upright structure (usually some kind of cone, pyramid, or spire) that rises up from the roof of a building or caps a tower. Example: Reaching the pinnacle of Sagarmāthā was the pinnacle of my mountaineering career.

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• pinnacles
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of pinnacle

First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English pinacle, from Middle French, from Late Latin pinnāculum “gable,” equivalent to Latin pinn(a) “raised part of a parapet,” literally, “wing, feather ” ( see pinna) + -āculum; see tabernacle

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Explanation

Going as far into the sky as you can go on foot, you'll reach the highest point, or pinnacle, of the Himalayas. A successful climb like that might also become the pinnacle, or peak, of your success. Two synonyms for pinnacle also start with the letter "p," "peak" and "point." A pinnacle can be a physical thing, like the top of a high mountain or the antenna on the very top of a building, or it can be a high point that can’t be measured with a ruler, like an achievement or a goal. Whatever the pinnacle is, reaching it is almost always a completion of something where you have gone the highest you can go. "Acme" is a great synonym for pinnacle.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

pinnacle pinnacles pinnacled pinnacling

In his native Bangladesh, many had celebrated him as the successful product of a pressure-filled academic system that views the U.S. as the pinnacle.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 1, 2026

Wawrinka is loved by millions of fans because he is relatable - an everyman personality who reached the pinnacle of his sport by pushing himself to the limit.

From BBC ● Oct. 28, 2026

While several Rwandans told AFP of their pride that their country will soon host the pinnacle of motor sports, Kigali entrepreneur Amon Niyigena, took a more pragmatic view.

From Barron's ● Oct. 16, 2026

"And if that's one of the pinnacle trophies in world cricket, why would we not be trying to get it along with every other marquee event that comes our way?"

From BBC ● Sep. 20, 2026

In between revolutions, communes, epidemics and wars, Paris was the Vegas of the nineteenth century, and the grandeur of its opera productions stood at the pinnacle of a glittering high-society scene.

From "The Story of Music" by Howard Goodall

The fire sequences alone, captured in the hellish fuzz of Pål Ulvik Rokseth’s cinematography, are pinnacles of this practical-meets-digital-effects discipline.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 19, 2025

He struck on an idea to carve representations of the American West into the granite pinnacles of the Central Black Hills: The Lakota leader Red Cloud, Lewis and Clark, George Armstrong Custer.

From Slate ● Mar. 13, 2025

Thompson emphatically opened the past as a living resource while claiming one of the pinnacles of white, male Western culture for future use by others.

From New York Times ● Jun. 15, 2023

"Those two pinnacles of the professional tennis world have always been there as goals for me. So I do want to make more history of this sport, no doubt," he said.

From BBC ● Jan. 28, 2023

The spectacularly fluted ice pinnacles of Thamserku and Kusum Kangru pierced the sky more than two vertical miles above.

From "Into Thin Air" by Jon Krakauer

Oak Flat is a cactus-covered, sun-baked landscape of pinnacled rock formations and Native American archaeological and burial sites, home to a plethora of plants and animals.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 14, 2023

“I felt like the Last Man … left pinnacled in mid-heaven.”

From Washington Post ● Aug. 15, 2016

Mr. Kelley “is doing something quite wonderful,” Mr. Tuggle said while showing a visitor around a pinnacled sideboard piled with vessels in orchid, dogwood, iris and nasturtium motifs.

From New York Times ● Jan. 17, 2013

“Said to be most expensive set ever made in America at that time,” he wrote on the label for one pinnacled chair, listing its original home as a mansion in Yonkers.

From New York Times ● Jan. 10, 2013

Where are the lofty pinnacled bergs I expected to see, the rocks and towers of ice, the green glistening gables, and the tall spires, like a hundred cathedrals dang into one?”

From Wild Adventures round the Pole The Cruise of the "Snowbird" Crew in the "Arrandoon" by Gordon Stables

She had guarded her memory of him so tenderly, weaving a thousand extravagant tales about him, pinnacling him above all men, her hero, her knight, her preux chevalier.

From The Shadow of the East by E. M. (Edith Maude) Hull

She pointed, still smiling, to the purple clouds now pinnacling the west, and said that it was time to be going homeward.

From Oldfield A Kentucky Tale of the Last Century by Nancy Huston Banks

"I will!" said Sammy Durgan with a sudden pinnacling of determination—and he sprang to his feet.

From The Night Operator by Frank L. (Frank Lucius) Packard

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Related Words

• apex
• culmination
• greatest
• height
• peak

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