Other forms: eminences
Eminence is high standing and reputation in a field. Rise to eminence, of great eminence, an eminence in the law.
It is standing among those who would know rather than fame among everybody, which is what separates it from celebrity. An eminence grise is the powerful adviser who stays out of sight, and Your Eminence is how a cardinal is addressed.
1nouneminenceHigh standing and reputation in a field.
“She rose to eminence as one of the country's leading heart surgeons.”
eminence is a standing.
EMInence → the one everybody MEANS
The one name everyone means when the subject comes up, standing so far above the rest that nobody argues about it.
hooks ontomean
Latin eminentia means prominence, from eminere, to stand out.
Proto-Indo-European
*men- (stand out)
Latin
ēminentia — prominence”, “protuberance”; “eminence”, “excellence
Old French
eminence
English, today
eminence
From Old French eminence, from Latin ēminentia (“prominence”, “protuberance”; “eminence”, “excellence”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA