culmination

Language: en

🇺🇸 /ˌkʌlməˈneɪʃən/

📖 Definitions

  1. noun
    The highest or climactic point of something, especially as attained after a long period of development or effort.; The final stage or result of a process, series of events, or development.; In astronomy, the moment when a celestial body crosses the observer's meridian, reaching its highest point in the sky.

🔗 Details

Word forms

uncountable

Collocations

culmination ofreach a culminationthe culmination of years of workcome to a culmination

Derivatives

culminateculminant

Synonyms

climaxpeakapexzenithpinnacleacme

Antonyms

beginningonsetstart

Commonly confused

consummation
EN: 'Consummation' emphasizes completion or fulfillment (especially of a marriage or plan); 'culmination' emphasizes reaching the highest point after a process of development.
accumulation
EN: 'Accumulation' refers to a gradual gathering or increase of something; 'culmination' refers to the final or highest point reached.

Spelling tips

EN: Remember that 'culmination' has a single 'l' and the sequence '-mina-' in the middle (not '-mena-' or '-mine-'). It derives from Latin 'culmen' (summit).

💬 Examples

  1. The signing of the peace treaty was the culmination of years of diplomatic negotiations.

  2. The album was the culmination of a decade of musical experimentation.

  3. The astronomer recorded the exact time of the star's culmination to calculate its declination.