Other forms: maxima, maximums
The maximum is the largest amount allowed or reached. A maximum of four, the maximum speed, at maximum.
The plural is maxima in technical writing and maximums elsewhere. As an adjective it goes before the noun: maximum load, maximum sentence, maximum security. The opposite is minimum. Note to the maximum, meaning as far as possible; maximise, the verb; and that maximum temperature in a forecast means the highest expected that day rather than the highest possible.
1nounmaximumThe largest amount allowed or reached.
“The maximum in that class is thirty and there are thirty-four.”
2adjectivepossibleLargest allowed or possible.
“The maximum sentence is fourteen years and nobody gets it.”
maximum is a largest amount.
Latin maximum is the neuter of maximus, greatest — the superlative of magnus, great. The same magnus gives magnify, magnitude and magnate, and the emperor's title Magnus meant simply the Great.
Latin
maximus
French
maximum
English, today
maximum
From French maximum, from Latin maximus. Via French - from Latin maximum.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA
Practised in Numbers & Measurement