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culminate

UK/ˈkʌl.mɪ.neɪt/US/ˈkʌl.məˌneɪt/
verbC1Rare in speech; mostly a word you read · #13,653 of 15,258leans written

Other forms: culminated, culminating, culminates

To culminate is to build up and reach its highest or final point. Culminate in a concert, the protests culminated, culminating in victory.

It needs a build-up behind it, so a thing that simply ends does not culminate — the word claims a climb. It takes in, not with. In astronomy a star culminates when it reaches its highest point in the sky. Note that the Latin culmen means a summit.

Definitions of culminate

  1. 1verbculminateTo reach a highest or final point.C1

    “Months of protests culminated in the resignation of the president.”

culminate is a reaching of a peak.

Also accepted in games: peak

Where it comes from

Latin culminare comes from culmen, a peak or summit. The astronomical sense came first in English.

  1. Proto-Indo-European

    *kelH-

  2. Proto-Italic

    *kolamen

  3. Latin

    culmen — peak, highest point

  4. Medieval Latin

    culminātus

  5. English, today

    culminate

Built from

  • culminō · Latin — to crown
  • columen · Latin — top, summit
  • *kelH- · Proto-Indo-European — to project, rise; peak, summit, top

1647; Medieval Latin culminātus, perfect passive participle of culminō (“to crown”) (see -ate), from Latin culmen (“peak, highest point”) + -ō, older form columen (“top, summit”), from Proto-Italic kolamen, from a Proto-Indo-European - base kelH- (“to project, rise; peak, summit, top”), whence also hill and holm.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in Sharper Verbs

Practise this word

culminate in the wild

  • Astronomical objects near the celestial equator appear above the horizon from most places on the Earth, but they culminate highest near the equator.

    Celestial equator

  • The time of culmination (when the object culminates) is often used to mean upper culmination.

    Culmination

  • The spiral would culminate in the complex's tallest building, the One World Trade Center, a 1,776-foot spire.

    Memory Foundations

  • Many of its TV commercials feature people causing big problems, played for comical effect, which culminate in the slogan.

    Centraal Beheer

  • The athletic events were conducted by hoplites in their armor and would compete in footraces, displays of their weapon handling skills, and would culminate in equestrian competitions.

    Theseia

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

From Project Gutenberg, public domain. These sentences are from real books, shown to illustrate the word at work.

Related words

the culmen family

column

culminate — used about once every 27,725 pages · #13,653 · point at the bar for the others

  • culmination