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Your word for today is: achievement, n.
achievement, n.
Pronunciation: Brit. /əˈtʃiːvm(ə)nt/, U.S. /əˈtʃivm(ə)nt/
Forms: lME achieuement, 15 achiuement, 15 atcheament in sense 2, 15 atchieuement, 15 atchieument, 15 atchiuement, 16–18 atchievement, 16– achievement.
Etymology: < Anglo-Norman and Middle French achevement, Middle French achievement (French achèvement) the action of finishing or completing something (mid 13th cent. in Old French), accomplishment (1338) < acheverachieve v. + -ment-ment suffix. Compare earlier achieving n.
With sense 2 compare hatchment n.1; it is possible that this sense may have originated as a reinterpretation of hatchment n.1, understood as a contracted form (compare forms at that entry).
1.
a. The action of achieving something; completion, accomplishment, successful execution.
Also with modifying prefix, as non-achievement, over-, under-achievement, etc. (see at first element).
1477 Caxton tr. R. Le Fèvre Hist. Jason (1913) 149With thachieuement of these deuises the kyng Oetes approched‥the shippe.
1490 Caxton tr. Eneydos sig. A i,Alle thystorye of his aduentures that he had er he cam to the achieuement of his conquest of ytalye.
1576 T. Newton tr. L. Lemnie Touchstone of Complexions ii. f. 15,All the instruments‥of the Senses‥attayne thereby stablenes, for the atchieuement of their functions and charges.
c1592 Faire Em sig. A3,The blisse That hangs on quicke atchiuement of my loue.
1603 R. Knolles Gen. Hist. Turkes 182He would vndertake the atchieument of that exploit.
1689 P. Bellon Court Secret ii. 16Whosoever once set his Hand to that Plough‥was not to look back, but to go forwards,‥being confident, that the more perillous, the more glorious the Achievement of the thing would be.
1705 D. Manley Queen Zarah ii. 33They might spur on my Hopes to the Atchievement of my Desires.
a1762 Lady M. W. Montagu Educ. in R. Dodsley Coll. Poems (1763) IV. 45Ne for th'atchievement of this great emprize The want of means or counsel may ye dread.
1815 R. Southey Roderick ix. 19So it be lawful, and within the bounds of possible atchievement.
1860 'G. Eliot' Mill on Floss II. iv. ii. 162The poor lad brought his first quarter's money, with a delicious sense of achievement, and gave it to his father.
1878 B. Taylor Prince Deukalion i. vi. 46What virtue lies More in achievement than its hot desire?
1905 E. Wharton House of Mirth i. x. 179A life in which achievement seemed as squalid as failure.
1946 Nature 3 Aug. 155/1The relatively rapid achievement of cationic equilibrium between perfusate and soil.
1998 Textile Horizons May 18/3Mexico is a land of achievement, architecture, and much learning.
2007 Marketing 2 May 57 (advt.)To earn a place on our Board, you'll a have a bulletproof record of achievement in developing marketing client relationships.
b. Something that has been achieved; an action or result accomplished through effort, skill, or courage; a feat.
1583 B. Melbancke Philotimus 73The custom of ye Carthaginians, by which they wore so many ringes in their chaines, in signe of honour, as they had bene at victorious atchieuements.
1591 W. Raleigh Rep. Fight Iles of Açores sig. A4,[They] were all sent backe againe to their countries, to witnesse and recount the worthy achieuements of their inuincible and dreadfull Nauy.
1596 W. Warner Albions Eng. (rev. ed.) xi. lxix. 291We intreate of great Achiuements done By English, in contrarie Clymes.
1678 T. Jordan Triumphs of London in J. B. Heath Some Acct. Worshipful Company of Grocers (1869) 522You might see an hundred persons confusedly scrambling in the dirt for the frail atchievement of a bunch of raisins.
1767 F. Fawkes tr. Theocritus Idylliums xxiv. 233And each achievement where fair fame is sought, Harpalycus, the son of Hermes, taught.
1794 R. J. Sulivan View of Nature II. 367The many and great atchievements attributed to heroes of the first ages.
1824 T. F. Dibdin Library Compan. 161The achievements of Agincourt and Waterloo.
1831 D. Brewster Life I. Newton xix. 328The achievements of genius, like the source from which they spring, are indestructible.
1877 Spirit of Times 24 Nov. 454/2That banquet was a 'feast of intellect', as well as a culinary achievement of the highest order.
1934 P. Hutchison in N.Y. Times Bk. Rev. 9 Sept. 2/3'The Fly,' as a pure achievement in horror fiction‥must be ranked as one of the world's masterpieces within that disagreeable genre.
1964 Ann. Reg. 1963 185Among other notable American achievements in space during the year was the launching of a communications satellite.
1996 E. Lovelace Salt xi. 199He would add to his achievements the ability to sing any of the current calypsos and at least the chorus of the older ones.
2007 Daily Tel. 13 June 20/1The reopened Royal Festival Hall is a rare achievement of modesty and taste.
2. Heraldry. Originally: an escutcheon or armorial device, esp. one granted in recognition of a distinguished feat. Later: a representation of all the armorial devices to which a bearer of arms is entitled. Formerly also: †a square or diamond-shaped panel or canvas with a deceased person's armorial bearings, affixed to his or her house during mourning or placed in a church; cf. hatchment n.1
1572 J. Bossewell Wks. Armorie f. 106v,All whiche atchieuementes before displayed, is within the Garter cotized of two Lions de ermine.
1586 J. Ferne Blazon of Gentrie 186The creast, tymber, mantell, or worde, bee no part of the coat-armour; they be addicions called atcheaments.
1610 J. Guillim Display of Heraldrie vi. v. 263An Atchievement, according to Leigh, is the Armes of euery Gentleman wel Marshalled with the Supporters, Helme, Wreath and Creasts, etc.
1753 T. Gray Long Story in Designs R. Bentley 14To raise the cieling's fretted height, Each pannel in achievements cloathing.
1868 A. P. Stanley Hist. Mem. Westm. Abbey iv. 201Graves, piled with the standards and achievements of the noble families of Florence.
1914 F. J. Grant Man. Heraldry (rev. ed.) 53Achievement, the coat of arms (helmet, crest, mantling, motto) fully emblazoned according to the rules of heraldry.
1990 Antiquaries Jrnl. 70 73The central corbel supports an architrave with broken triangular segmented pediment, enclosing an achievement of arms.
Compounds
C1. a. General attrib. (chiefly Educ. and Psychol.). achievement age n.
1921 Univ. Illin. Bur. Educ. Res. Bull. 6 5Medians are the mental age norms, which are used as a basis for translating the point scores into *achievement ages.
1986 Learning Disability Q. 9 216/2Each‥child's predicted score was translated into age months to arrive at an expected achievement age.
achievement gap n.
1956 Washington Post 13 Oct. 14/4The validity of this judgment is questionable, as it is based, in many instances on a comparison of achievement records of Negro and white pupils, while it overlooks one of the main causes of the *achievement gap—inequality of the dual system of education.
2000 N.Y. Times 3 Aug. a28/4For eight years, the achievement gap in our schools has grown worse, poor and disadvantaged children falling further and further behind.
achievement orientation n.
1951 D. C. McClelland Personality x. 357If independence training is begun before the child is really capable of performing‥the skills required of him, his thinking is likely to be colored thereafter by an *achievement orientation.
2003 Contemp. Sociol. 32 696/2Some may quibble with the use of educational expectations as an indicator of achievement orientation.
achievement test n.
b. Objective.1921 Univ. Illin. Bur. Educ. Res. Bull. 6 5The plan consists of establishing for the *achievement tests mental age norms which are used to supplement the usual grade norms.
1999 N.Y. Rev. Bks. 18 Nov. 20/2European countries have similar achievement tests, such as the baccalauréat , the Abitur , and the Laurea.
achievement-oriented adj.
C2. 1950 Social Forces 28 384/2The problems of tenure and seniority in our kind of *achievement-oriented society reflect this fact.
2003 Jrnl. Contemp. Hist. 38 374Sports are the mirror image of—rather than an emancipatory alternative to—the repressive, exploitive, achievement-oriented world of work.
achievement motivation n. motivation or drive to excel or attain goals.
1949 D. McClelland & A. M. Liberman in Jrnl. Personality 18 247Our measures‥are not reflecting simply a temporary motivational state but do in fact represent‥the level of *achievement motivation a subject maintains over a period of months.
2005 Time 14 Nov. 51/3Ongoing studies‥have measured achievement motivation—lab language for ambition—in identical siblings separated at birth.
achievement quotient n. a numerical measure of a student's actual achievement relative to his or her potential achievement; cf. accomplishment quotient n. at accomplishment n.Compounds; abbreviated AQ.
1921 Univ. Illin. Bur. Educ. Res. Bull. 6 5Provision is made for comparing a pupil's achievement score‥with the norm corresponding to his mental age by dividing his achievement age by the standard score for his mental age. This quotient is called the *Achievement Quotient.
1996 Jerusalem Post (Nexis) 26 Sept. 3/2The achievement quotient listed above is almost certainly not matched in the recent history of any other Western (or, for that matter, non-Western) country in the world.
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