Library / English Dictionary

CULMINATE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Rise to, or form, a summit

Example:

The helmet culminated in a crest

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "culminate" is one way to...):

form (assume a form or shape)

Sentence frame:

Something is ----ing PP

Sense 2

Meaning:

Bring to a head or to the highest point

Example:

Seurat culminated pointillism

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "culminate" is one way to...):

end; terminate (bring to an end or halt)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s somebody

Derivation:

culmination (a final climactic stage)

Sense 3

Meaning:

End, especially to reach a final or climactic stage

Example:

The meeting culminated in a tearful embrace

Synonyms:

climax; culminate

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "culminate" is one way to...):

cease; end; finish; stop; terminate (have an end, in a temporal, spatial, or quantitative sense; either spatial or metaphorical)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "culminate"):

crown; top (be the culminating event)

Sentence frame:

Something is ----ing PP

Derivation:

culmination (a concluding action)

culmination (the decisive moment in a novel or play)

culmination (a final climactic stage)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Reach the highest altitude or the meridian, of a celestial body

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Hypernyms (to "culminate" is one way to...):

arrive at; attain; gain; hit; make; reach (reach a destination, either real or abstract)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

Derivation:

culmination ((astronomy) a heavenly body's highest celestial point above an observer's horizon)

Sense 5

Meaning:

Reach the highest or most decisive point

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Hypernyms (to "culminate" is one way to...):

accomplish; achieve; attain; reach (to gain with effort)

Sentence frames:

Something is ----ing PP
Somebody ----s PP

Derivation:

culmination (the decisive moment in a novel or play)

culmination (a final climactic stage)

Credits

 Context examples: 

Blood coagulation is another series of proenzyme-to-serine protease conversions, culminating the formation of thrombin, the enzyme responsible for the conversion of soluble fibrinogen to the insoluble fibrin clot.

(Complement and Coagulation Cascade, NCI Thesaurus/KEGG)

This water squirted out from under his feet at every step, and each time he lifted a foot the action culminated in a sucking sound as the wet moss reluctantly released its grip.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

And, finally, I am convinced that he is the perfect type of the primitive man, born a thousand years or generations too late and an anachronism in this culminating century of civilization.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

This would always culminate with the master's arms going around White Fang's neck and shoulders while the latter crooned and growled his love-song.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

Coursework is primarily of an applied or performing nature with the program often culminating in a major work or performance.

(Master of Fine Arts, NCI Thesaurus)

The Menstrual Cycle involves regularly recurring hormonal changes and physiologic endometrial changes during the reproductive period in human females, and some primates, and culminates in partial sloughing of the endometrium (menstruation) in the absence of fertilization.

(Menstrual cycle, NCI Thesaurus)

For this reason I will now lay before the reader the facts connected with Miss Violet Smith, the solitary cyclist of Charlington, and the curious sequel of our investigation, which culminated in unexpected tragedy.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The writing of it was the culminating act of a long mental process, the drawing together of scattered threads of thought and the final generalizing upon all the data with which his mind was burdened.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

It appeared from its position in the paper to have been the one event of importance in town, and the account of it ran in this way: A desperate attempt at robbery, culminating in the death of one man and the capture of the criminal, occurred this afternoon in the City.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Full moons culminate matters, so you might get engaged, for example, within five days of this full moon.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)