Library / English Dictionary

EMINENCE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

A protuberance on a bone especially for attachment of a muscle or ligament

Synonyms:

eminence; tubercle; tuberosity

Classified under:

Nouns denoting body parts

Hypernyms ("eminence" is a kind of...):

appendage; outgrowth; process (a natural prolongation or projection from a part of an organism either animal or plant)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "eminence"):

deltoid eminence; deltoid tuberosity (a bump on the outside of the humerus where the deltoid muscle attaches)

Sense 2

Meaning:

High status importance owing to marked superiority

Example:

a scholar of great eminence

Synonyms:

distinction; eminence; note; preeminence

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Hypernyms ("eminence" is a kind of...):

high status (a position of superior status)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "eminence"):

king (preeminence in a particular category or group or field)

Derivation:

eminent (standing above others in quality or position)

Credits

 Context examples: 

The day was unusually fine till the afternoon, when some of the gossips who frequent the East Cliff churchyard, and from that commanding eminence watch the wide sweep of sea visible to the north and east, called attention to a sudden show of mares'-tails high in the sky to the north-west.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

And being always with her, and always talking confidentially, and his feelings exactly in that favourable state which a recent disappointment gives, those soft light eyes could not be very long in obtaining the pre-eminence.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

It is my intention, my dear Copperfield, to educate my son for the Church; I will not deny that I should be happy, on his account, to attain to eminence.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Then take my word for it,—I am not a villain: you are not to suppose that—not to attribute to me any such bad eminence; but, owing, I verily believe, rather to circumstances than to my natural bent, I am a trite commonplace sinner, hackneyed in all the poor petty dissipations with which the rich and worthless try to put on life.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

However vigorous the sapling, said Mrs. Micawber, shaking her head, I cannot forget the parent-tree; and when our race attains to eminence and fortune, I own I should wish that fortune to flow into the coffers of Britannia.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

I was got up in a special great-coat and shawl, expressly to do honour to that distinguished eminence; had glorified myself upon it a good deal; and had felt that I was a credit to the coach.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)