culminate

CEFRC1

/ˈkʌl.mɪ.neɪt/

verb

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    verb

    To reach the highest or final point after developing.

  2. 02

    verb

    Extra detail

    To reach the (physical or figurative) summit, highest point, peak etc.

Examples

  • I hope this year will culminate in something good.

  • The festival will culminate in a fireworks display.

At a glance

Sits at C1 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
1
Citations
5
Synonyms
1

Also pronounced

  • /ˈkal.mɪ.næɪt/
  • /ˈkʌlmɪnət/

Deep Dive

verb

Extra meanings

  1. To reach a final or highest point.

  2. Of a heavenly body, to be at the highest point, reach its greatest altitude.

  3. To reach a point at which continued progress is not possible.

More examples

In context

  • Years of research culminated in this discovery.

  • The class will culminate with a rigorous examination.

  • Their messy breakup culminated in a restraining order.

Synonyms

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

The series of events will blank in a grand finale.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

verb

First attested in 1647; borrowed from Medieval Latin culminātus, perfect passive participle of culminō (“to crown”) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix)), from Latin culmen (“peak, highest point”, oblique stem culmin-) + -ō (verb-forming suffix), older form columen (“top, summit”), from Proto-Italic *kolamen, from a Proto-Indo-European base *kol-, *kelH- (“to project, rise; peak, summit, top”), whence also English hill and holm.