Achievement is "[t]he successful accomplishment of, or performance in, a socially defined task or goal".[1] A person who is noted for consistently achieving goals may be called an achiever.
Achievement is distinct from ability, although ability can affect what is able to be achieved, with one author noting that "for example, severe physical impairment can constrain 'achievement'", resulting in a need to measure achievement in students relative to their abilities.[2] A person who achieves beyond what their aptitude would suggest may be called a high achiever, while one who achieves less than their aptitude suggests may be called a low achiever or underachiever. At the extreme high end, an overachiever is a high achiever whose achievements may be attributed to putting in excessive effort towards the realizing of achievements.
Deeds must always be characterized as good or bad, magnanimous or atrocious, and the like: exploit and achievement do not necessarily require such epithets; they are always taken in the proper sense for something great. Exploit, when compared with achievement, is the term used in plain prose; it designates not so much what is great as what is real: achievement is most adapted to poetry and romance; it soars above what the eye sees, and the ear hears, and affords scope for the imagination.
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An exploit may be executed by the design and at the will of another; a common soldier or an army may perform exploits. An achievement is designed and executed by the achiever; Hercules is distinguished for his achievements; and in the same manner we speak of the achievements of knight-errants or of great commanders.[3]
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edit- This open draft remains in progress as of May 15, 2021.