fulfillment

American  

[fool-fil-muhnt] / fʊlˈfɪl mənt /

especially British, fulfilment

noun

• fulfillments
  plural

1. the act or state of fulfilling: to achieve fulfillment of one's hopes.

   to witness the fulfillment of a dream;

   to achieve fulfillment of one's hopes.

2. the state or quality of being fulfilled; completion; realization.

   a vague plan that had no hope of fulfillment.

3. the process or business of handling and executing customer orders, as packing, shipping, or processing checks.

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• prefulfillment
  noun
• superfulfillment
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• fulfillments
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of fulfillment

First recorded in 1765–75; fulfill + -ment

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Explanation

Fulfillment is a feeling of happiness and satisfaction. It's also the completion of something, like the fulfillment of a promise. This word has two related meanings. In terms of emotions, fulfillment is a happy, contented feeling. Many people feel fulfillment from being a parent, having a great job, or graduating from school. People often feel fulfillment when something is completed, whether it's a goal or a dream or repair work that you've been waiting on. Which leads to the other meaning of fulfillment — the act of finishing or doing something that was promised.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

fulfillment fulfillments

I will be looking for evidence that its warehouse technology is improving the economics of fulfillment.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 28, 2026

Within fulfillment, AI also works to complement broader operational changes.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 28, 2026

Designer Brands has spent the past year working to ensure that its fulfillment centers are appropriately stocked, according to the CFO.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 27, 2026

Her “Soul Mates” may be a ghost story or a tale of wish fulfillment tinged with the fabulous.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 15, 2026

The new people were something else before they were white—Catholic, Corsican, Welsh, Mennonite, Jewish—and if all our national hopes have any fulfillment, then they will have to be something else again.

From "Between the World and Me" by Ta-Nehisi Coates

Over on the opinion pages, Mr. Hallowell explores how the nativity story weaves together a beautiful tapestry of fascinating figures, themes and prophetic fulfillments.

From Washington Times ● Dec. 25, 2023

So I still get those kinds of fulfillments, but it was great being in the newsroom with people.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 21, 2020

In return for replacing unconscious repression with conscious renunciation, we get a civilisation, and all its bounty – stability, a sense of purpose, the fulfillments of culture.

From The Guardian ● Oct. 12, 2018

But his analysis of it, and the resulting conclusion — that dreams are wish fulfillments — proved revolutionary.

From New York Times ● Aug. 29, 2014

Contradiction of the thesis that all dreams are the fulfillments of wishes is raised by my patients with perfect regularity.

From Dream Psychology Psychoanalysis for Beginners by Sigmund Freud

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Related Words

• achievement
• attainment
• contentment
• gratification
• perfection
• realization

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