milestone

English

Etymology

From mile +‎ stone. Compare Dutch mijlsteen (“milestone”), German Low German Mielensteen (“milestone”), German Meilenstein (“milestone”), Swedish milsten (“milestone”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmaɪlstəʊn/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

Noun

milestone (plural milestones)

1. A stone milepost (or by extension in other materials), one of a series of numbered markers placed along a road at regular intervals, typically at the side of the road or in a median.
2. (idiomatic) An important event in a person's life or career, in the history of a nation, in the life of some project, etc.
   • 1933, Stephen Spender, The Funeral:

     Death is another milestone on their way.

   • 2012 March-April, Terrence J. Sejnowski, “Well-connected Brains”, in American Scientist‎^[1], volume 100, number 2, archived from the original on 27 April 2017, page 171:

     Creating a complete map of the human connectome would therefore be a monumental milestone but not the end of the journey to understanding how our brains work.

   • 2021 October 20, “Stop & Examine”, in RAIL, number 942, page 71:

     She bought the model as a surprise gift for a friend who is a lifelong HST fan and railwayman, and who will soon be celebrating a milestone birthday.

Synonyms

• landmark

Related terms

• mileage
• milemark
• milemarker
• milepole
• milepost

Translations

one of a series of numbered markers placed along a road at regular intervals

• Armenian: please add this translation if you can
• Belarusian: верставы слуп m (vjerstavy slup), кіламетровы слуп m (kilamjetróvy slup), мільны слуп m (milʹny slup), мільны камень m (milʹny kamjenʹ)
• Bulgarian: километричен камък (kilometričen kamǎk)
• Catalan: fita (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 里程碑 (zh) (lǐchéngbēi)

• Czech: milník (cs) m
• Danish: milepæl c
• Dutch: mijlpaal (nl) m, mijlsteen (nl)
• Esperanto: mejloŝtono
• Estonian: verstapost
• Extremaduran: miliáriu
• Finnish: kilometripylväs, kilometritolppa, mailitolppa
• French: borne (fr) f, borne kilométrique (fr) f
• Galician: marco m
• German: Kilometerstein m, Meilenstein (de) m, Postmeilensäule (de) m or f
• Greek: χιλιομετροδείκτης (el) (chiliometrodeíktis)
• Hebrew: אבן מיל (he) f (even mil), אבן דרך (he) f (even derekh)
• Hungarian: kilométerkő (hu), mérföldkő (hu)
• Indonesian: tanggal penting
• Italian: pietra miliare
• Japanese: マイルストーン (ja) (mairusutōn), キロポスト (kiroposuto), 里程標 (ja) (りていひょう, riteihyō)
• Latin: mīlliārium n
• Macedonian: милјоказ m (miljokaz)
• Malayalam: നാഴികക്കല്ല് (ml) (nāḻikakkallŭ)
• Norman: pièrre dé mille f
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: milestein m, milepæl (no) m, milepel m, milestolpe m

  Nynorsk: milestein m, milepåle m, milestolpe

• Polish: kamień milowy (pl) m
• Portuguese: marco miliário m, marco miliar
• Russian: ми́льный ка́мень m (mílʹnyj kámenʹ), километро́вый столб m (kilometróvyj stolb)
• Scottish Gaelic: clach-mhìle f
• Serbo-Croatian: miljokaz (sh)
• Slovak: míľnik m
• Spanish: hito (es) m, mojón (es) m, cipo (es)
• Swedish: milsten c, milstolpe (sv) c
• Tagalog: batong-milyahe
• Turkish: kilometre taşı
• Ukrainian: віха f (vixa), мильовий камінь m (mylʹovyj kaminʹ)
• Vietnamese: cột mốc, cây số (vi), cột cây số, cột dặm
• Volapük: liölaston

important event

• Bulgarian: важно събитие (važno sǎbitie)
• Catalan: fita (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 里程碑 (zh) (lǐchéngbēi)

• Czech: mezník (cs) m, milník (cs) m
• Danish: milepæl c
• Dutch: mijlpaal (nl) m, keerpunt (nl) n
• Esperanto: mejloŝtono
• Finnish: virstanpylväs (fi), merkkipaalu
• French: jalon (fr) m
• Georgian: ნიშანსვეტი (nišansveṭi)
• German: Meilenstein (de) m, Etappenziel (de) n, Markstein (de) m
• Hebrew: אבן דרך (he) f (even derekh)
• Hungarian: mérföldkő (hu)
• Italian: pietra miliare, traguardo (it)
• Japanese: 里程標 (ja) (りていひょう, riteihyō), 画期的出来事 (かっきてきできごと, kakkiteki dekigoto)
• Macedonian: пресвртница f (presvrtnica)
• Malayalam: നാഴികക്കല്ല് (ml) (nāḻikakkallŭ)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: milepæl (no) m, milepel m, minestolpe m, milestein m

  Nynorsk: milestolpe m, milepåle m, milestein m

• Polish: kamień milowy (pl) m, milowy krok m
• Portuguese: marco (pt) m
• Russian: ве́ха (ru) f (véxa), эта́п (ru) m (etáp), рубе́ж (ru) m (rubéž)
• Scottish Gaelic: clach-mhìle f
• Serbo-Croatian: prekretnica (sh) f
• Slovak: medzník m
• Spanish: hito (es) m, jalón (es)
• Swedish: milstolpe (sv) c
• Turkish: kilometre taşı
• Vietnamese: mốc (vi)
• Volapük: liölaston

See also

• game changer
• landmark
• watershed

 

Verb

milestone (third-person singular simple present milestones, present participle milestoning, simple past and past participle milestoned)

1. To place milestones along (a road, etc.).
2. (idiomatic) To plan out a project as a series of major steps.

Translations

to place milestones

• Spanish: amojonar (es)

Anagrams

• lemoniest, lime-stone, limestone