culminate (culminates, present participle culminating; past and past participle culminated)

1. (intransitive, astronomy) Of a heavenly body, to be at the highest point, reach its greatest altitude.
2. (intransitive, also, figuratively) To reach the (physical) summit, highest point, peak etc.

   Synonyms: peak

   • 1667, John Milton, “Book 3”, in Paradise Lost. A Poem Written in Ten Books, London: Printed [by Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […] [a]nd by Robert Boulter […] [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], OCLC 228722708 ↗; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: The Text Exactly Reproduced from the First Edition of 1667: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, OCLC 230729554 ↗:

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

   • The reptile race culminated in the secondary era.

   • The house of Burgundy was rapidly culminating.

3. (intransitive, figuratively) To reach a climax; to come to the decisive point (especially as an end or conclusion).

   Their messy breakup culminated in a restraining order.

   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.

• culm
• culminant
• culmination
• culminating
• culminated

• German: kulminieren
• Spanish: culminar

• German: gipfeln
• Italian: culminare
• Spanish: culminar

• German: kulminieren

culminate (not comparable)

1. (anatomy) Relating to the culmen