Apogee is often used in its figurative sense, signifying the high point of a career, endeavor, or state (“she was at the apogee of her profession”). This meaning developed as a metaphorical extension of the word’s astronomical sense, denoting the farthest distance from earth of an object orbiting the planet.
A number of other English words that are synonymous with apogee have followed a similar path of figurative development from a technical meaning. Climax (“the most interesting and exciting part of something”) came into English as a term for a series of phrases arranged in ascending order of rhetorical forcefulness. And, very much like apogee, culmination (“the final result of something”) is also rooted in astronomy: it originally referred to the highest point a celestial body reaches in its daily revolution (for example, the sun’s height at noon).
shag carpeting reached the apogee of its popularity in the 1970s but is now considered outdated
Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
The long game is not the selfie at apogee.—Amir Husain, Forbes.com, 15 Aug. 2025 The princess line reached its apogee around the turn of the century, in the creations of Jean-Philippe for the House of Worth’s most exacting and original client, Élisabeth de Riquet de Caraman-Chimay, a.k.a.—Leslie Camhi, New Yorker, 25 July 2025 But the actions of King Vajiralongkorn following his rise to the apogee of Thai society don’t suggest a monarch wanting for control.—Charlie Campbell, Time, 26 June 2025 The technical term for this is an apogee full moon, which happens when the moon is at its farthest point from Earth in its elliptical orbit.—Maria Azzurra Volpe, MSNBC Newsweek, 6 May 2025 See All Example Sentences for apogee
Word History
Etymology
French apogée, from New Latin apogaeum, from Greek apogaion, from neuter of apogeios, apogaios far from the earth, from apo- + gē, gaia earth
Share