acropolis

/əˈkɹɒpəlɪs/

Etymology

Borrowed from Ancient Greek Ἀκρόπολις (Akrópolis, “Acropolis”), from ἄκρος (ákros, “highest”) + πόλις (pólis, “city”).

acropolis means the Athenian Acropolis. Lexicurio rates it Rare gem — a strength score of 80 out of 100.

Why this word is great

ACROPOLIS — [Noun] The fortified high point of an ancient Greek city, serving as its religious heart and ultimate stronghold. From the Ancient Greek Ἀκρόπολις (Akrópolis), from ἄκρος (ákros, "highest, topmost") + πόλις (pólis, "city"). Unlike a "citadel," a general fortress that may lurk at a border, or "acropoleis," the correct but clinical plural, "acropolis" evokes a singular, civic pinnacle where polity meets the divine. It is the bleached marble catching the first and last light, the austere geometry of the Parthenon against an Attic sky, and the sheer climb of the Sacred Way worn smooth by millennia—a testament to the human insistence on placing our gods, and our defiance, as close to the sun as our hands could reach.

name

The Athenian Acropolis.

noun

A promontory (usually fortified with a citadel) forming the hub of many Grecian cities, and around which many were built for defensive purposes before and during the classical period; compare Acropolis.“The Etruscans, then, appear in general as an industrious people ( φιλότεχνον ἔθνος), of a bold and lofty spirit of enterprise, which was greatly favoured by their priestly aristocratic constitution. Massive walls, mostly of irregular blocks, surround their cities (not merely their acropoleis); the art of protecting the country from inundations by the construction of canals, and outlets from lakes,”