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
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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
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100 SAT words Beginning with "C"
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Unbroken
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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.
See Examples For:
Celebration of the national semiquincentennial will culminate when he waves the green flag Sunday to start the IndyCar race in downtown Washington.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 23, 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
The rituals culminate on the 10th day of the month Muharram, which this year falls on June 26.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 22, 2026
Many of these women were already involved in the temperance movement—the campaign to rid the nation of intoxicating liquor—which would also culminate in 1919.
From "1919 The Year That Changed America" by Martin W. Sandler
It culminates in a deeply unserious fight scene where everyone is very obviously not throwing punches.
From Slate ● Sep. 26, 2026
That has been evident in Jaissle's first week, which culminates in a friendly against Valencia at the Mestalla on Saturday.
From BBC ● Aug. 8, 2026
The tentative agreement culminates more than two years of contract negotiations and several one-day and multi-day strikes.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 14, 2026
The three countries, along with the Netherlands and Iceland, pulled out of this year's event in Vienna, which kicks off on Tuesday and culminates in Saturday's grand final.
From Barron's ● May 11, 2026
His embarrassment would have pleased me, but once he recovered, there would be that awkward period that sometimes culminates in a handshake.
From "Me Talk Pretty One Day" by David Sedaris
Their bye week consisted of wild-card watch parties, batting practice, live pitching — from a long list of arms on Wednesday, especially — and an open workout Thursday that culminated in a scrimmage.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 2, 2026
The conversations behind the scenes at the convention culminated in Harris’ final answer for their request: no.
From Slate ● Sep. 25, 2026
This culminated in a magnitude 4.8 earthquake, the largest recorded at Yellowstone since 1975.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 22, 2026
The online satirical movement made global headlines for its weeks-long protest in Delhi, which culminated in the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan last month.
From BBC ● Aug. 21, 2026
It turned out that Evan Parker, and his strict mom, and his nonexistent finances culminated in some of my most pivotal memories from high school.
From "Americanized" by Sara Saedi
Everything he’d been pointing towards in the distance was now here, culminating all at once.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 27, 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
Zellmer spent more than two decades at Porsche, now also part of the VW Group, culminating in a stint leading the sports-car brand’s North American business through a period of strong growth in the 2010s.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 20, 2026
The book begins with a set of perhaps overly prescriptive ground rules: Stick with one pursuit a year, with each culminating in the achievement of a concrete, ambitious goal.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 17, 2026
The long layoff from racing, culminating in a week stuck itching in the barn, took its toll.
From "Seabiscuit: An American Legend" by Laura Hillenbrand
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.
