fulfill

American  

[fool-fil] / fʊlˈfɪl /

especially British, fulfil

verb (used with object)

fulfilled, fulfilling

1. to carry out, or bring to realization, as a prophecy or promise.

   Synonyms:

   realize, complete, achieve, accomplish

2. to perform or do, as duty; obey or follow, as commands.

   Synonyms:

   observe, discharge, execute

3. to satisfy (requirements, obligations, etc.).

   a book that fulfills a long-felt need.

   Synonyms:

   fill, answer, meet

4. to bring to an end; finish or complete, as a period of time.

   He felt that life was over when one had fulfilled his threescore years and ten.

   Synonyms:

   conclude, terminate, end

5. to develop the full potential of (usually used reflexively).

   She realized that she could never fulfill herself in such work.

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Other Word Forms

• fulfiller
  noun
• overfulfill
  verb (used with object)
• prefulfill
  verb (used with object)
• superfulfill
  verb (used with object)

Etymology

Origin of fulfill

First recorded before 1000; Middle English fulfillen, Old English fulfyllan. See full ¹, fill

Explanation

The verb fulfill means to fill a need or want. To fulfill yourself personally means to follow your inner passion, like flute-playing, no matter who thinks it's silly. Fulfill can also mean to meet expectations, or live up to a standard. If you fulfill your teacher's requirement of good behavior and good test scores, she'll give you a star. Finally, fulfill can mean to put into effect, or carry out. You'll fulfill the cookie orders when you deliver boxes of those tasty treats to the people who bought them.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

fulfill fulfilled fulfilling

She said they had been flying off the shelf, and staff were staying late to fulfill orders in time for the once-in-a-generation eclipse.

From BBC ● Aug. 12, 2026

Efforts to fulfill some of his marquee campaign pledges have stumbled, including the messy launch of the pied-à-terre tax.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 12, 2026

Previous owners of the American Labs Inc. facility did not fulfill agreed cleanup obligations, Pakkidis said.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 11, 2026

Growth in the September quarter is being capped because Apple can’t fulfill demand fast enough.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 31, 2026

This was an art school, and the writing workshop was commonly known as the easiest way to fulfill one's mandatory English credits.

From "Me Talk Pretty One Day" by David Sedaris

It highlighted an unregulated funeral industry in England, Wales and Northern Ireland and raised questions about whether two local authorities fulfilled all of their responsibilities regarding the registration of deaths.

From BBC ● Aug. 2, 2026

According to BCA Research, hyperscaler cloud backlogs — orders received but not yet fulfilled — have grown by roughly $750 billion over just the past two quarters.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 20, 2026

In other words, Folayan concludes, the Pasha’s reaction was logical: Since the Americans had not fulfilled their contract, he did not consider himself obligated to fulfill his.

From Salon ● Jul. 4, 2026

Microfinance hasn’t fulfilled its early promise for billions of the world’s poor, but the problem isn’t that microlending is inherently flawed.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 29, 2026

The burden must be carried; the want provided for; the suffering endured; the responsibility fulfilled.

From "Jane Eyre" by Charlotte Brontë

Olmo must decide between fulfilling his duty or pursuing his age-appropriate impulse for fun.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 7, 2026

"This is the most thrilling, entertaining, fulfilling job we could have ever asked for."

From BBC ● Jul. 31, 2026

"We're not focused on any particular timeline. We're focused on fulfilling the legal and statutory requirements," he said.

From Barron's ● Jul. 23, 2026

HBM producers have diverted their efforts toward fulfilling lucrative data-center contracts, resulting in increasing component costs for consumer products.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 18, 2026

I was realizing that the next phase of my journey would not simply unfold on its own, that my fancy academic degrees weren’t going to automatically lead me to fulfilling work.

From "Becoming" by Michelle Obama