Robert F. Jones
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Apex entered English from Latin, where it originally meant "a small rod at the top of a flamen's cap." What's a flamen's cap? Flamens were priests who devoted themselves to serving just one of the many ancient Roman gods (for instance, just Jupiter or Mars). Those priests wore distinctive conical caps that English speakers dubbed "flamen's caps." Sixteenth- and seventeenth-century dramatist Ben Jonson was one of the few English writers known to have used "apex" in its flamen's-cap sense: "Upon his head a hat of delicate wool, whose top ended in a cone, and was thence called apex."
Examples of apex in a Sentence
Idrees Kahloon, New Yorker, 28 July 2025
Though Drake was listed as the apex of the experience, Lauryn Hill and Vybz Kartel ensured that fans walked away with memories that would last a lifetime.
—Armon Sadler, VIBE.com, 24 July 2025
The film cost $225 million and another $125 million to market globally, the latter including pricey stunts like a Superman figure hovering at the apex of London’s tallest building, The Shard, on July 1.
—Tatiana Siegel, Variety, 16 July 2025
In the 1970s, as scientists' understanding grew of the important role apex predators play in nature, conservationists launched a campaign to revamp the wolf's image.
—Ruth Sherlock, NPR, 9 July 2025
See All Example Sentences for apex
Cite this Entry
“Apex.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/apex. Accessed 2 Aug. 2025.
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