Literary notes about apex (AI summary)
In literature, "apex" is a multifaceted term employed both in precise, technical descriptions and as a metaphor for culmination or peak moments. In botanical and anatomical contexts, it denotes the very tip or end of a structure, as seen when describing the pointed end of a leaf or petal ([1], [2]). Beyond physical descriptions, the term also captures moments of ultimate intensity or climax in narrative progression, symbolizing the pinnacle of a character’s experience or a series of events ([3], [4], [5]). Even in geometric or architectural detail, "apex" designates the highest, most pointed element of a figure or structure ([6], [7]), uniting diverse fields of description with a single, evocative image of finality and prominence.
- the leaf is scattered petiolate oval accute at its apex finely serrate smooth and of an ordinary green.
— from The Journals of Lewis and Clark, 1804-1806 by William Clark and Meriwether Lewis - Stamens 5, free, inserted on the apex of a disk.
— from The Medicinal Plants of the Philippines by T. H. Pardo de Tavera - The apex of my civic pride and personal contentment was reached on the bright September morning when I entered the public school.
— from The Promised Land by Mary Antin - In the “Tale of Two Cities,” Sydney Carton’s voluntary death upon the scaffold stands at the apex of several series of events.
— from A Manual of the Art of Fiction by Clayton Meeker Hamilton - “To resume, that was in a way the apex of my career.
— from The Secret Adversary by Agatha Christie - Al′titude, in mathematics, the perpendicular height of the vertex or apex of a plane figure or solid above the base.
— from The New Gresham Encyclopedia. A to Amide by Various - The apex of the triangle was consequently a single point then followed below two others, then three; and lastly, the base consisted of four.
— from The symbolism of Freemasonry : by Albert Gallatin Mackey
