elevation

elevation
    n 1: the event of something being raised upward; "an elevation
         of the temperature in the afternoon"; "a raising of the
         land resulting from volcanic activity" [syn: {elevation},
         {lift}, {raising}]
    2: the highest level or degree attainable; the highest stage of
       development; "his landscapes were deemed the acme of beauty";
       "the artist's gifts are at their acme"; "at the height of her
       career"; "the peak of perfection"; "summer was at its peak";
       "...catapulted Einstein to the pinnacle of fame"; "the summit
       of his ambition"; "so many highest superlatives achieved by
       man"; "at the top of his profession" [syn: {acme}, {height},
       {elevation}, {peak}, {pinnacle}, {summit}, {superlative},
       {meridian}, {tiptop}, {top}]
    3: angular distance above the horizon (especially of a celestial
       object) [syn: {elevation}, {EL}, {altitude}, {ALT}]
    4: a raised or elevated geological formation [syn: {natural
       elevation}, {elevation}] [ant: {depression}, {natural
       depression}]
    5: distance of something above a reference point (such as sea
       level); "there was snow at the higher elevations"
    6: (ballet) the height of a dancer's leap or jump; "a dancer of
       exceptional elevation"
    7: drawing of an exterior of a structure
    8: the act of increasing the wealth or prestige or power or
       scope of something; "the aggrandizement of the king"; "his
       elevation to cardinal" [syn: {aggrandizement},
       {aggrandisement}, {elevation}]
    

Elevation \El`e*va"tion\, n. [L. elevatio: cf. F.
   ['e]l['e]vation.]
   1. The act of raising from a lower place, condition, or
      quality to a higher; -- said of material things, persons,
      the mind, the voice, etc.; as, the elevation of grain;
      elevation to a throne; elevation of mind, thoughts, or
      character.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. Condition of being elevated; height; exaltation. "Degrees
      of elevation above us." --Locke.
      [1913 Webster]

            His style . . . wanted a little elevation. --Sir H.
                                                  Wotton.
      [1913 Webster]

   3. That which is raised up or elevated; an elevated place or
      station; as, an elevation of the ground; a hill.
      [1913 Webster]

   4. (Astron.) The distance of a celestial object above the
      horizon, or the arc of a vertical circle intercepted
      between it and the horizon; altitude; as, the elevation of
      the pole, or of a star.
      [1913 Webster]

   5. (Dialing) The angle which the style makes with the
      substylar line.
      [1913 Webster]

   6. (Gunnery) The movement of the axis of a piece in a
      vertical plane; also, the angle of elevation, that is, the
      angle between the axis of the piece and the line o? sight;
      -- distinguished from direction.
      [1913 Webster]

   7. (Drawing) A geometrical projection of a building, or other
      object, on a plane perpendicular to the horizon;
      orthographic projection on a vertical plane; -- called by
      the ancients the orthography.
      [1913 Webster]

   {Angle of elevation} (Geodesy), the angle which an ascending
      line makes with a horizontal plane.

   {Elevation of the host} (R. C. Ch.), that part of the Mass in
      which the priest raises the host above his head for the
      people to adore.
      [1913 Webster]
    

240 Moby Thesaurus words for "elevation":
      Olympian heights, access, accession, acclivity, accretion, accrual,
      accruement, accumulation, acme, addition, advance, advancement,
      aerial heights, aggrandizement, altitude, amplification, anabasis,
      apex, apotheosis, appreciation, ascension, ascent, augmentation,
      ballooning, beatification, bigheartedness, bigness, bloating,
      blueprint, boom, boost, broadening, brouillon, buildup,
      canonization, cartoon, ceiling, chart, chivalrousness, chivalry,
      clamber, climb, climbing, consequence, conspicuousness, copy,
      crescendo, cultivation, deification, delineation, design,
      development, diagram, dignification, dignity, distinction,
      dizzy heights, draft, drawing, ebauche, edema, eminence,
      enhancement, enlargement, ennoblement, enshrinement, enthronement,
      erecting, erection, errantry, escalade, esquisse, ether,
      exaltation, excellence, expansion, extension, figure, flood,
      fountain, gain, generosity, generousness, glorification,
      graduation, grandeur, graph, gravity, great heart, greatening,
      greatheartedness, greatness, greatness of heart, ground plan,
      growth, gush, gyring up, hauteur, heaven, heavens, heaving up,
      height, heighth, heights, heroism, high mightiness,
      high-mindedness, highness, hike, hill, house plan, ichnography,
      idealism, immortalization, importance, increase, increment,
      inflation, jet, jump, knight-errantry, knighting, knightliness,
      largeheartedness, leap, levitation, liberality, liberalness, lift,
      lionization, loftiness, lofting, lump, magnanimity,
      magnanimousness, magnification, majesty, mark, mount, mounting,
      multiplication, nobility, noble-mindedness, nobleness, notability,
      note, openhandedness, outline, outstandingness, passing, pattern,
      pay raise, perpendicular distance, plot, preference, preferment,
      princeliness, productiveness, profile, projection, proliferation,
      prominence, promotion, raise, raising, rearing, refinement, rise,
      rising, rising ground, rocketing up, rough, sainting, saltation,
      sanctification, shooting up, significance, skeleton, sketch, sky,
      snowballing, soaring, solemnity, spout, spread, spring, spurt,
      standing on end, stateliness, stature, steep, stratosphere,
      sublimity, supereminence, surge, swelling, table, takeoff,
      taking off, tallness, toploftiness, tumescence, up, upclimb,
      upcoming, updraft, upgang, upgo, upgoing, upgrade, upgrading,
      upgrowth, uphill, upleap, uplift, uplifting, upping, upraising,
      uprearing, uprisal, uprise, uprising, uprush, upshoot, upslope,
      upsurge, upsurgence, upsweep, upswing, uptrend, upturn,
      vantage ground, vantage point, vault, waxing, wen, widening,
      working drawing, zenith, zooming