culmination
Americannoun
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the act or fact of culminating.
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that in which anything culminates; the culminating position or stage; highest point; acme.
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Astronomy. the position of a celestial body when it is on the meridian.
noun
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the final, highest, or decisive point
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the act of culminating
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astronomy the highest or lowest altitude attained by a heavenly body as it crosses the meridian
Other Word Forms
- nonculmination noun
Etymology
Origin of culmination
1625–35; < Medieval Latin culminātiōn-, stem of culminātiō; culminate, -ion
Explanation
The culmination is the end point or final stage of something you've been working toward or something that's been building up. The culmination of your high school career, for example, should be graduation day — and probably not prom night. A culmination isn't just the conclusion. It's the climax of the story, the final crowning achievement, the end result of years of research. “Life is a culmination of the past, an awareness of the present, an indication of a future beyond knowledge, the quality that gives a touch of divinity to matter,” said Charles Lindbergh, the first solo pilot to fly nonstop across the Atlantic — a feat that was surely the culmination of his aviation career.
Vocabulary lists containing culmination
This Week in Words: October 22 - 27, 2017
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"When Do Kids Become Adults?" Vocabulary from the argument
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Obama, on the 50th anniversary of 'Bloody Sunday'
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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.
According to Professor Tom Gordon, the latest findings, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, mark the culmination of years of global research.
From Science Daily • Apr. 10, 2026
And the culmination of that product, superintelligence, is still likely years away.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 10, 2026
"I'm very excited... it is the culmination of a lifelong dream being able to do this and take part in this whole mission," said Burger.
From BBC • Mar. 30, 2026
“This transaction is the culmination of the Board’s robust process to unlock the full value of our world-class portfolio,” Warner Bros.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 26, 2026
Poncelet’s mathematics was the culmination of the work begun by the artists and architects of the fifteenth century, like Filippo Brunelleschi and Leonardo da Vinci, who discovered how to draw realistically—in perspective.
From "Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea" by Charles Seife
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.
