There Is a Difference Between “highest” and “highest”
I wrote a sentence the other day that said that something “is of the utmost importance.” And I paused. Was it extreme ? Or was it top notch ? I was pretty sure it was “extreme”, but I was also pretty sure I had seen / heard “extreme” at some point in my life. What’s the difference?
Utterly
The word “extreme” was necessary for me, because I wanted to convey that it is “the greatest”, “the most urgent” or “most extreme” value.
You use the adjective “as much as possible” in phrases such as “I really respect her.” It can also be used like a noun, which means “greatest or extreme degree or amount.” For example: I am doing my best to explain it to you.
Topmost
Top-most is (quite rarely) a variant of the word “top-most,” which is an adjective or adverb that indicates the highest position in place, rank, or importance. For example, you need to hire someone to clean the topmost windows in a building.
Once you know the difference, as I do now, it’s easy to remember which up / up means the highest . But now that we know, we can drop the “top” entirely, because the top is more common and more understandable. Of course, you can never go wrong with “higher”; high is a classic that will never go out of style.