finest hour

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Noun edit

finest hour (plural finest hours)

(idiomatic) A point in time or a relatively brief period of time when an especially distinguished, admirable, or effective set of actions is performed.
- 1940 June 18, “Churchill Says Hope Not Dead”, in San Jose Evening News, retrieved 28 August 2013, page 1:
  Winston Churchill proclaimed today to his Parliament and people the beginning of "the battle for Britain" […] "Let us brace ourselves to our duty, and so bear ourselves that, if the British Empire and Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will still say: ‘This was their finest hour.’"
- 1979 August 2, Peter Calamai, “Analysis: It's brave words and bad vibrations”, in Edmonton Journal, Canada, retrieved 28 August 2013, page D20:
  Commonwealth countries were called upon to rise to their finest hour against the double crises of Rhodesia and global poverty.
- 2010 October 13, Tim Padgett, “Chile Celebrates As Miners Emerge from Underground”, in Time, retrieved 28 August 2013:
  The U.S. exulted 40 years ago when it brought its three Apollo 13 astronauts back safely from a disaster in space. Early Wednesday morning, Chile […] can celebrate its own finest hour as it rescues its 33 miners from the abyss.
- 2023 October 19, Daniel Boffey, quoting Tom Tugendhat, “Israel accuses BBC of ‘modern blood libel’ over reporting of hospital strike”, in The Guardian‎^[1], →ISSN:
  Speaking on Radio 4’s Today programme on Thursday morning, the UK’s security minister, Tom Tugendhat, criticised “irresponsible speculation” and said it had not been “the BBC’s finest hour”.

Synonyms edit

day in the sun, heyday

References edit

“finest hour”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.