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Definitions

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

  1. n. The act of accomplishing or finishing.
  2. n. Something accomplished successfully, especially by means of exertion, skill, practice, or perseverance. See Synonyms at feat1.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

  1. n. The act of achieving or performing; an obtaining by exertion; accomplishment: as, the achievement of one's object.
  2. n. That which is achieved; a great or heroic deed; something accomplished by valor, boldness, or superior ability.
  3. n. In heraldry, an escutcheon or armorial shield. The proper expression is “achievement of arms,” and signifies a complete heraldic composition, whether the shield alone or the shield with crest, motto, and supporters, if any. The term achievement is applied especially to the escutcheon of a deceased person displayed at his obsequies, over his tomb, etc., distinctively called a funeral achievement, or more commonly a hatchment (which see). Synonyms Deed, Feat, Exploit, etc. See feat.

Wiktionary

  1. n. The act of achieving or performing; an obtaining by exertion; successful performance; accomplishment; as, the achievement of his/her object.
  2. n. A great or heroic deed; something accomplished by valor, boldness, or praiseworthy exertion; a feat.
  3. n. An escutcheon or ensign armorial; now generally applied to the funeral shield commonly called hatchment. - Cussans
  4. n. An award for completing a particular task or meeting an objective.
  5. n. The act of achieving or performing; an obtaining by exertion; successful performance; accomplishment; as, the achievement of his/her object.
  6. n. A great or heroic deed; something accomplished by valor, boldness, or praiseworthy exertion; a feat.
  7. n. An escutcheon or ensign armorial; now generally applied to the funeral shield commonly called hatchment. - Cussans
  8. n. An award for completing a particular task or meeting an objective.

GNU Webster's 1913

  1. n. The act of achieving or performing; an obtaining by exertion; successful performance; accomplishment.
  2. n. A great or heroic deed; something accomplished by valor, boldness, or praiseworthy exertion; a feat.
  3. n. An escutcheon or ensign armorial; now generally applied to the funeral shield commonly called hatchment.

WordNet 3.0

  1. n. the action of accomplishing something

Examples

  • “One day, thousands of years from now, after the devastating effects of climate change have successfully wiped out the majority of twenty-first century American culture through some cataclysmic disaster that leaves only ruins to be studied, much like how our society now studies ancient Babylon, the children of the future will be sitting in their futuristic classrooms watching the only remaining DVD of our era, which just so happens to be the first season of Big Time Rush, and the teacher is going to say, "This was the pinnacle of twenty-first century American musical achievement," and somewhere in the ethos (* insert name of composer who you feel best represents twenty-first century American musical achievement*) will cry out in despair.”

    NewMusicBox

  • “Granted, it was a time when the graduation rate was a non-issue and the term achievement gap had yet to be coined.”

    ArtsJournal: Daily Arts News

  • “But when you consider the magnitude of shifting from one conservative era to one in which government simply has to be deployed to tackle deep structural problems, the achievement is as significant as his election year.”

    Think Progress » Tea Party activists distribute signs paid for by the RNC at ‘Take The Town Halls to Washington’ event.

  • “That's what they are referring to, this renewal, this -- what they call achievement of enrichment at Netame (ph).”

    CNN Transcript Apr 13, 2006

  • “Quite apart from the remarkable nature of this achievement is the fact that this is merely another proof that even under the pressure of war and the heavy drain on manpower, the brains of Britain were never more vigorous and never more productive than they are today.”

    Britain Sees It Through

  • “If one accomplishes something especially fine, his achievement is a source of admiration and joy to others: no heart suffers from another's wealth, but the triumph of one is a delight to all.”

    The Montessori Method

  • “I'm sure the 'achievement' is great ... but it's slow, it looks terrible, and it can't handle things like GTK+ windows properly.”

    Nimi Adds Visual Effects And Eye Candy To Windows | Lifehacker Australia

  • “Sen. Clinton may have succeeded in getting people to call her "Hillary" and to have made them feel resigned to her front-runnership, but what kind of achievement is that?”

    Archive 2007-09-01

  • “But perhaps Ephron’s main achievement is that she has always had the talent and courage to say things that others writers can’t or don’t.”

    Ms. Ephron Regrets « One-Minute Book Reviews

  • “April 23, 2010 at 8: 13 AM what if achievement is not ones goal?”

    “Don’t Mistake Activity For Achievement” | Lifehacker Australia

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‘achievement’ has been looked up 2556 times, added to 21 lists, commented on 1 time, and has a Scrabble score of 21.