Adjacent Words

Height definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

HEIGHT
HEIGHTEN, v.t. hitn. To raise higher; but not often used in this literal sense.
1. To advance in progress towards a better state; to improve; to meliorate; to increase in excellence or good qualities; as, to highten virtue; to highten the beauties of description, or of poetry.
2. To aggravate; to advance towards a worse state; to augment in violence.
3. To increase; as, to highten our relish for intellectual pleasure.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: the vertical dimension of extension; distance from the base of something to the top [syn: height, tallness]
2: the highest level or degree attainable; the highest stage of development; "his landscapes were deemed the acme of beauty"; "the artist's gifts are at their acme"; "at the height of her career"; "the peak of perfection"; "summer was at its peak"; "...catapulted Einstein to the pinnacle of fame"; "the summit of his ambition"; "so many highest superlatives achieved by man"; "at the top of his profession" [syn: acme, height, elevation, peak, pinnacle, summit, superlative, meridian, tiptop, top]
3: (of a standing person) the distance from head to foot [syn: stature, height]
4: elevation especially above sea level or above the earth's surface; "the altitude gave her a headache" [syn: altitude, height]

Merriam Webster's

noun Etymology: Middle English heighthe, from Old English h?ehthu; akin to Old High German h?hida height, Old English h?ah high Date: before 12th century 1. a. the highest part ; summit b. highest or most advanced point ; zenith <at the height of his powers> 2. a. the distance from the bottom to the top of something standing upright b. the extent of elevation above a level 3. the condition of being tall or high 4. a. an extent of land rising to a considerable degree above the surrounding country b. a high point or position 5. obsolete an advanced social rank Synonyms: height, altitude, elevation mean vertical distance either between the top and bottom of something or between a base and something above it. height refers to something measured vertically whether high or low <a wall two meters in height>. altitude and elevation apply to height as measured by angular measurement or atmospheric pressure; altitude is preferable when referring to vertical distance above the surface of the earth or above sea level; elevation is used especially in reference to vertical height on land <fly at an altitude of 10,000 meters> <Denver is a city with a high elevation>.

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. 1 the measurement from base to top or (of a standing person) from head to foot. 2 the elevation above ground or a recognized level (usu. sea level). 3 any considerable elevation (situated at a height). 4 a a high place or area. b rising ground. 5 the top of something. 6 Printing the distance from the foot to the face of type. 7 a the most intense part or period of anything (the battle was at its height). b an extreme instance or example (the height of fashion). Phrases and idioms: height of land US a watershed. Etymology: OE hehthu f. Gmc

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Height Height, n. [Written also hight.] [OE. heighte, heght, heighthe, AS. he['a]h?u, fr. heah high; akin to D. hoogte, Sw. h["o]jd, Dan. h["o]ide, Icel. h[ae]?, Goth. hauhipa. See High.] 1. The condition of being high; elevated position. Behold the height of the stars, how high they are! --Job xxii. 12. 2. The distance to which anything rises above its foot, above that on which in stands, above the earth, or above the level of the sea; altitude; the measure upward from a surface, as the floor or the ground, of animal, especially of a man; stature. --Bacon. [Goliath's] height was six cubits and a span. --1 Sam. xvii. 4. 3. Degree of latitude either north or south. [Obs.] Guinea lieth to the north sea, in the same height as Peru to the south. --Abp. Abbot. 4. That which is elevated; an eminence; a hill or mountain; as, Alpine heights. --Dryden. 5. Elevation in excellence of any kind, as in power, learning, arts; also, an advanced degree of social rank; pre["e]minence or distinction in society; prominence. Measure your mind's height by the shade it casts. --R. Browning. All would in his power hold, all make his subjects. --Chapman. 6. Progress toward eminence; grade; degree. Social duties are carried to greater heights, and enforced with stronger motives by the principles of our religion. --Addison. 7. Utmost degree in extent; extreme limit of energy or condition; as, the height of a fever, of passion, of madness, of folly; the height of a tempest. My grief was at the height before thou camest. --Shak. On height, aloud. [Obs.] [He] spake these same words, all on hight. --Chaucer.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(heights) Frequency: The word is one of the 3000 most common words in English. 1. The height of a person or thing is their size or length from the bottom to the top. I am 5'6'' in height... The wave here has a length of 250 feet and a height of 10 feet... He was a man of medium height. N-VAR: oft with poss, amount in N, N of amount 2. Height is the quality of being tall. She admits that her height is intimidating for some men. N-UNCOUNT 3. A particular height is the distance that something is above the ground or above something else mentioned. ...a test in which a 6.3 kilogram weight was dropped on it from a height of 1 metre... N-VAR 4. A height is a high position or place above the ground. I'm not afraid of heights. N-COUNT 5. When an activity, situation, or organization is at its height, it is at its most successful, powerful, or intense. During the early sixth century emigration from Britain to Brittany was at its height... = peak N-SING: at N with poss 6. If you say that something is the height of a particular quality, you are emphasizing that it has that quality to the greatest degree possible. The hip-hugging black and white polka-dot dress was the height of fashion... N-SING: the N of n [emphasis] 7. If something reaches great heights, it becomes very extreme or intense. ...the mid-1980s, when house prices rose to absurd heights... N-PLURAL: with supp, oft adj N, N of n

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

n. 1. Elevation, altitude. See tallness. 2. Eminence, summit, apex, acme, culminating point. 3. Hill, mountain, high ground, high land, eminence. 4. Utmost degree. 5. Elevation, high point, lofty position, altitude. 6. Elevation, eminence, exaltation, dignity, grandeur, loftiness, lofty position or character.

Moby Thesaurus

French pitch, Olympian heights, acme, acme of perfection, aerial heights, altitude, amount, amplitude, apex, apogee, apotheosis, area, ascent, assumption, authority, authorization, be-all and end-all, beatification, bigness, blue ribbon, bluff, body, breadth, brow, bulk, caliber, canonization, cap, championship, classical pitch, cliff, climax, cloud nine, command, compass, consummation, control, coverage, crag, crest, crown, culmen, culmination, cut, degree, deification, depth, diameter, dimension, dimensions, directorship, dizzy heights, dominion, edge, effectiveness, elevation, eminence, enshrinement, erection, escalation, escarpment, ether, exaltation, expanse, expansion, extension, extent, extreme, extreme limit, extremity, fell, first place, first prize, gauge, girth, grade, greatness, headland, headship, heaven, heavens, hegemony, heights, high noon, high pitch, high point, highest, highest pitch, highest point, highness, hill, imperium, influence, interval, jurisdiction, key, kingship, largeness, last word, leadership, leap, length, level, lift, lifting, limit, loftiness, lordship, low pitch, magnitude, management, mark, mass, mastership, mastery, maximum, measure, measurement, meridian, most, mound, mountain, mountaintop, ne plus ultra, new high, new philharmonic pitch, no place higher, noon, notch, note, nuance, palms, paramountcy, pas, peak, peg, perfection, period, philharmonic pitch, philosophical pitch, pink, pink of perfection, pinnacle, pitch, plane, plateau, point, pole, power, presidency, primacy, prominence, promontory, proportion, proportions, radius, raise, raising, range, ratio, reach, rearing, record, register, remove, ridge, rise, rising ground, round, rule, rung, say, scale, scarp, scope, seventh heaven, shade, shadow, size, sky, sovereignty, space, spire, spread, stair, standard, standard pitch, stature, steep, step, stint, stratosphere, summit, supremacy, sursum corda, sway, tallness, tip, tip-top, tonality, tone, top, top spot, tor, tread, tune, ultimate, upbuoying, upcast, upheaval, uplift, uplifting, upmost, upper extremity, uppermost, upping, uprearing, uprise, upthrow, upthrust, utmost, vantage ground, vantage point, vertex, very top, volume, width, zenith