cornice vs pinnacle

cornice

noun
  • An overhanging edge of snow on a ridge or the crest of a mountain and along the sides of gullies. 

  • A decorative element at the topmost portion of certain pieces of furniture, as with a highboy. 

  • A decorative element applied at the topmost part of the wall of a room, as with a crown molding. 

  • A horizontal architectural element of a building, projecting forward from the main walls, originally used as a means of directing rainwater away from the building's walls. 

verb
  • To furnish or decorate with a cornice. 

pinnacle

noun
  • A tall, sharp and craggy rock or mountain. 

  • An upright member, generally ending in a small spire, used to finish a buttress, to constitute a part in a proportion, as where pinnacles flank a gable or spire. 

  • The highest point. 

  • Coordinate term: sea stack 

  • An all-time high; a point of greatest achievement or success. 

verb
  • To place on a pinnacle. 

  • To build or furnish with a pinnacle or pinnacles. 

How often have the words cornice and pinnacle occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )