eminence

From Old French eminence, from Latin ēminēntia (“prominence”, “protuberance”; “eminence”, “excellence”).

• IPA^(key): /ˈɛmɪnəns/

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eminence (countable and uncountable, plural eminences)

1. Someone of high rank, reputation or social status.
2. The quality or state of being eminent.
3. Prominence in a particular order or accumulation; esteem.
4. (geology) An elevated land area or a hill.
   • 1817, Walter Scott, Rob Roy:

     From the summit of an eminence I had already had a distant view of Osbaldistone Hall, a large and antiquated edifice, peeping out from a Druidical grove of huge oaks [...].

   • 1952, Norman Lewis, Golden Earth:

     We stopped for a moment at the golf course to chat with members of the Consular staff, and then drove on to the Consulate, which was set upon an eminence, above evidences of landscape-gardening; a sweep of lawns, with coarse, whitened grass; flower-beds in which larkspur and nasturtiums fought against desperate odds.

5. (anatomy) A protuberance.
6. (uncountable) A dark purple color.
   • For quotations using this term, see Citations:eminence.

   eminence:  

• distinction
• prominence
• renown
• celebrity

• (antonym(s) of “someone of high rank, reputation or social status”): obscurity
• (antonym(s) of “the quality or state of being eminent”): mediocrity

• Wikipedia article on Roman Catholic Church
• Shades of purple (Eminence) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia