culminate

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 Proto-Italic *kolamen, from a Proto-Indo-European base *kol-, *kelH- (“to project, rise; peak, summit, top”), whence also English hill and holm.

• IPA^(key): /ˈkʌl.mɪnˌeɪt/
• IPA^(key): /ˈkʌl.məˌneɪt/

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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 or figurative) summit, highest point, peak etc.

   Synonym: peak

   • 1667, John Milton, “Book III”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:

     As when his beams at noon / Culminate from the equator.

   • 1875, James Dwight Dana, Manual of Geology:

     The type of Cycads culminated in the Mesozoic

   • 1856, John Lothrop Motley, The Rise of the Dutch Republic. A History. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], →OCLC:

     The house of Burgundy was rapidly culminating.

   • 2019 October, Tony Miles and Philip Sherratt, “EMR kicks off new era”, in Modern Railways, page 53:

     This culminates in a timetable change in December 2020, at which point EMR will introduce a sixth train each hour out of St Pancras.

3. (intransitive, figuratively) To reach a climax; to come to a decisive point, especially an end or conclusion.
   • 2006 September 12, “President Bush’s Reality”, in 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.

   Their messy breakup culminated in a restraining order.

   The class will culminate with a rigorous examination.

4. (US, military, of an offensive, etc) To reach a point at which continued progress is not possible.
   • 2014 August 15, Major Kevin R. Kilbride, Military Assistance Advisory Group-Vietnam (1954-1963): The Battle Of Ap Bac, Pickle Partners Publishing, →ISBN:

     Approaching from the south on foot, elements of the CG battalion were first to come into contact and their attack culminated because the rate and accuracy of the VC small arms fire. The CG battalions attempted two assaults to penetrate […]

   • 2014 August 15, Major Bryan L. Woodcock, 91st Infantry In World War I--Analysis Of An AEF Division's Efforts To Achieve Battlefield Success [Illustrated Edition], Pickle Partners Publishing, →ISBN, page 33:

     As a result, the attack culminated the first day without additional artillery support. The towns of Eclisfontaine and Epinonville were not held on the first day as originally directed in the Corps plan.

5. (transitive) To finalize, bring to a conclusion, form the climax of.
   • 2010 September 7, “By the skin of her teeth”, in The Economist:

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

• culm
• culminant
• culmination
• culminating
• culminated

culminate (not comparable)

1. (anatomy) Relating to the culmen

• culminate in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• “culminate”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

culminate

1. inflection of culminare:
   1. second-person plural present indicative
   2. second-person plural imperative

culminate

1. second-person singular voseo imperative of culminar combined with te