consummation
AmericanOther Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of consummation
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English consummacioun, from Middle French, from Latin consummātiōn-, stem of consummātiō; equivalent to consummate + -ion
Explanation
Use the noun consummation when you mean the point at which something is finalized or completed. Your graduation from college will be the consummation of four years of hard work. Consummation comes from the Latin verb consummare, which means to sum up or to finish. The moment when something is finished is its consummation. The consummation of a year's hard work might be when you use your earnings to finally achieve your dream of traveling to Africa. The noun consummation can also refer specifically to the first act of sexual intercourse after a marriage.
Vocabulary lists containing consummation
Frankenstein
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The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark
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Hamlet's "To be or not to be" soliloquy
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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.
“The situation creates noise and a near term floor under eBay shares at a premium to pre-bid levels, but we view the probability of deal consummation in its current form as very low,” he said.
From MarketWatch • May 20, 2026
Strangely, it tells the history of the earth in reverse, beginning in the present, so humanity isn’t the consummation of evolution, but instead casts its shadow backward.
From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 3, 2025
“The fact,” it said, “that an unforeseeable accident prevented the prompt consummation of the sentence cannot, it seems to us, add an element of cruelty to a subsequent execution.”
From Slate • Aug. 8, 2025
Or is it just the latest step toward some future, endlessly postponable consummation?
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 1, 2023
Feeling lurks in that interval of time between desire and its consummation.
From "Brave New World" by Aldous Huxley
Definitions 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.
