culminate

English

Etymology

Recorded since 1647, from Medieval Latin culminatus, the past participle of culminare (“to crown”), from Latin culmen (“peak, the highest point”), older form columen (“top, summit”), from a Proto-Indo-European base *kel- "to project".

Pronunciation

• Audio (UK)

  (file)

Verb

culminate (third-person singular simple present culminates, present participle culminating, simple past and past participle culminated)

1. (intransitive, astronomy) Of a heavenly body, to be at the highest point, reach its greatest altitude.
2. (intransitive) To reach the (physical) summit, highest point, peak etc.
3. (intransitive) To reach a climax; to come to the decisive point (especially as an end or conclusion).

   Their messy breakup culminated in a restraining order.

   New York Times Mr. Bush has been marking the fifth anniversary of Sept. 11 with a series of speeches about terrorism that culminated with his televised address last night.

   The class will culminate with a rigorous examination.

4. (transitive) To finalize, bring to a conclusion, form the climax of.
   • 2010, "By the skin of her teeth", The Economist, 7 Sep 2010:

     The announcement by Tony Windsor and Rob Oakeshott in Canberra culminated more than a fortnight of intensive political horse-trading.

Synonyms

• peak

Related terms

• culm
• culminant
• culmination
• culminating
• culminated

Translations

astronomy: to reach greatest altitude

Dutch: dagen, oprijen Finnish: kulminoida (fi)

Spanish: culminar (es)

to reach the summit, highest point, peak (level) etc.

Dutch: culmineren (nl), pieken (nl) Finnish: huipentua (fi), kulminoitua (fi) German: gipfeln (de)

Italian: culminare (it) Spanish: culminar (es)

to climax

Dutch: besluiten (nl), eindigen (nl), culmineren (nl)

Finnish: huipentua (fi), kulminoitua (fi)

to finalize, form climax of

Dutch: afsluiten, besluiten, beëindigen, finaliseren

Finnish: huipentaa (fi)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

Translations to be checked

French: culminer

German: kulminieren

External links

• culminate in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• culminate in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911

---

Italian

Verb form

culminate

1. second-person plural present tense of culminare
2. second-person plural imperative of culminare