culmination

[kuhl-muh-ney-shuhn]

noun

1. the act or fact of culminating.

2. that in which anything culminates; the culminating position or stage; highest point; acme.

   Synonyms: summit, peak, zenith, climax

3. Astronomy.,  the position of a celestial body when it is on the meridian.

culmination

/ ˌkʌlmɪˈneɪʃən /

noun

1. the final, highest, or decisive point

2. the act of culminating

3. astronomy the highest or lowest altitude attained by a heavenly body as it crosses the meridian

Other Word Forms

• nonculmination noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of culmination¹

1625–35; < Medieval Latin culminātiōn-, stem of culminātiō; culminate, -ion

Example Sentences

For Solange, whose work is deeply rooted in research, taking on this role feels like “a culmination of the many practices” she has embodied throughout her career, she said.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

This was the culmination of his finest series as he also made 106 in the third Test and 97 not out in the fourth.

Read more on Barron's

The games could be interpreted as the culmination of a slow but steady reconciliation between the NBA and China, on a backdrop of tensions between Washington and Beijing over trade.

Read more on BBC

It marked the culmination of a frenetic White House campaign to bring a case against Comey—over the objection of career prosecutors—in the final days before the time window for charges expired.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

For some, it’s a last hurrah, the culmination of ideas that had been percolating for years.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• apex 
• climax 
• completion 
• pinnacle