maximum

plural maxima · plural maximums

1. The highest limit.

   This is the fundamental principle of good legislation. It is the art of conducting a nation to the maximum of happiness and the minimum of misery

   1806, P. Colquhoun, A Treatise on Indigence

2. mathematicsThe greatest value of a set or other mathematical structure, especially the global maximum or a local maximum of a function.
3. mathematical analysisAn upper bound of a set which is also an element of that set.
4. mathematicsThe largest value of a batch or sample or the upper bound of a probability distribution.
5. ball gamesA 147 break; the highest possible break.

   Synonyms: 147, maximum break

6. colloquialdartsA score of 180 with three darts.
7. colloquialball gamesA scoring shot for 6 runs.
8. colloquialmaximum security

   I just got out of maximum where I did 4 months for an arguent I had in the serving area.

   1983 April 23, Alice Thompson, “Personal advertisement”, in Gay Community News, page 15

1. not comparableTo the highest degree.

   Use the proper dose for the maximum effect.

   1 more example

   Each Piccadilly Line train consists of seven cars, the construction of the stations below ground making this the maximum length.

   1960 March 28, “New Stock for the Piccadilly Line of London Transport”, in Railway Magazine, page 203

   Synonyms: extreme, maximal, ultimate, extreme, ferocious, exquisite, intense, pluperfect