culminate
Americanverb (used without object)
-
culminates,
present (3rd person singular)
-
culminated,
past participle, past
-
culminating
present participle
-
to reach the highest point, summit, or highest development (usually followed by in).
-
to end or arrive at a final stage (usually followed by in).
The argument culminated in a fistfight.
-
to rise to or form an apex; terminate (usually followed by in).
The tower culminates in a tall spire.
-
Astronomy. (of a celestial body) to be on the meridian, or reach the highest or the lowest altitude.
verb (used with object)
-
culminates,
present (3rd person singular)
-
culminated,
past participle, past
-
culminating
present participle
verb
-
to end or cause to end, esp to reach or bring to a final or climactic stage
-
(intr) (of a celestial body) to cross the meridian of the observer
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
culminatesimple
-
culminatessimple
-
have culminatedperfect
-
has culminatedperfect
-
am culminatingprogressive
-
are culminatingprogressive
-
is culminatingprogressive
-
have been culminatingperfect progressive
-
has been culminatingperfect progressive
Past
-
culminatedsimple
-
had culminatedperfect
-
was culminatingprogressive
-
were culminatingprogressive
-
had been culminatingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of culminate
First recorded in 1640–50; from Late Latin culminātus (past participle of culmināre to come to a peak), equivalent to Latin culmin- (stem of culmen ) “peak, top” + -ātus -ate 1
Explanation
The verb culminate is used to describe a high point or a climactic stage in a process. For example, the goal of a Major League baseball team is to have their season culminate in a World Series victory. The word culminate derives from the Latin word culminatus, the past participle of culminare, which means "to top or crown." Use culminate when you are referring to a crowning moment or a final conclusion: “I want my experiments combining strawberry jam with burnt toast to culminate in a Nobel Prize in Chemistry — or at least a lucrative contract with a major food supplier.”
Vocabulary lists containing culminate
Unit 1: Telling Details
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
100 SAT words Beginning with "C"
Interested in learning more words like this one? Our team at Vocabulary.com has got you covered! You can review flashcards, quiz yourself, practice spelling, and more – and it's all completely free to use!
Unbroken
Want to remember this word for good? Start your learning journey today with our library of interactive, themed word lists built by the experts at Vocabulary.com – we'll help you make the most of your study time!
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Perhaps most importantly, “Rubber Soul” marked an escalation in the musical arms race between the Beatles and Brian Wilson that would culminate in “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 6, 2026
For national tournaments, the corollary is how poorer countries always have to match up against richer ones for regional faceoffs and qualifiers that culminate in the quadrennial dream that is the World Cup.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 20, 2026
Kerr, whose training is based in the United States, decided to target the record this season as it was the first in six years not to culminate in a major global championship.
From BBC ● Jul. 18, 2026
After Najaf, Khamenei's body will be flown to Karbala, about 60 kilometres north, for another procession that will culminate at the shrines of Imam Hussein and his brother Abbas.
From Barron's ● Jul. 8, 2026
Occasionally one of her infatuations would culminate in a lunch or coffee date, an encounter on which she would pin all her hopes but which would lead to nothing.
From "The Namesake" by Jhumpa Lahiri
It culminates in a deeply unserious fight scene where everyone is very obviously not throwing punches.
From Slate ● Sep. 26, 2026
The live entertainment accelerator started in 2022 as a 10-week experiment and has since grown into a six-month intensive program with weekly guest speakers from Live Nation, which culminates in the annual block party.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 29, 2026
After Wimbledon, the season switches to the North American hard court swing which culminates at the US Open between 30 August and 13 September.
From BBC ● Jul. 4, 2026
The festival culminates in two days of ceremonies as Koovagam briefly becomes a rare space of acceptance.
From Barron's ● May 3, 2026
The clash culminates several weeks after Enrique arrives, when Maria Isabel telephones collect and her call is rejected because some of the immigrants in the trailer do not know who she is.
From "Enrique's Journey" by Sonia Nazario
One of hundreds of housing protesters camping in central Madrid, Aitana Lopez felt duty-bound to pay tribute to a pensioner whose eviction sparked a movement that culminated in early elections.
From Barron's ● Oct. 8, 2026
The $111-billion transaction culminated a year-long battle by the 43-year-old tech scion to add Warner Bros.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 6, 2026
That project culminated two years ago in Loper Bright v.
From Slate ● Oct. 6, 2026
This culminated in a mini banking crisis by early 2023.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 5, 2026
The lifelong quest of Johannes Kepler, to understand the motions of the planets, to seek a harmony in the heavens, culminated thirty-six years after his death, in the work of Isaac Newton.
From "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan
Brussels has already drawn Washington's ire with probes under different laws, culminating in fines worth billions of dollars.
From Barron's ● Oct. 6, 2026
Rebecca Onion digs into the movie’s many twists and turns, culminating in “the psychological-thriller equivalent of a plot quadruple axel.”
From Slate ● Oct. 5, 2026
The task for Burnham is to meld these snapshots into a compelling and coherent narrative, culminating in a vision of the Britain he wants to see a decade from now.
From BBC ● Sep. 24, 2026
And in “The Musical,” you can see both of her parents in the audience during the culminating school show.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 18, 2026
It had been a hectic week, culminating in that weird scene at the emergency room.
From "Hoot" by Carl Hiaasen
Random Word
Spin the wheel and learn a new word!
Get a wordDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
