culminate

present singular third person culminates · participle present culminating · participle past culminated · past culminated

1. intransitiveastronomyOf a heavenly body, to be at the highest point, reach its greatest altitude.
2. intransitiveTo reach the (physical or figurative) summit, highest point, peak etc.

   The tower culminates in a point.

   4 more examples

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

   1667, John Milton, “Book III”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC

   The type of Cycads culminated in the Mesozoic

   1875, James Dwight Dana, Manual of Geology

   The house of Burgundy was rapidly culminating.

   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

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

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

   Synonyms: peak

3. figurativelyintransitiveTo reach a climax; to come to a decisive point, especially an end or conclusion.

   The class will culminate with a rigorous examination.

   3 more examples

   Their messy breakup culminated in a restraining order.

   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.

   2006 September 12, “President Bush’s Reality”, in New York Times

   Born in 1866 in Pingdong County in the south of the island, Lin became an outlaw after a brief stint as a Qing dynasty official, but after the Japanese invasion in 1895 he used his bandit experience to organize guerrilla resistance. This culminated in successful attacks on Donggang in 1897, and Chaojhou in 1898 with an army of two thousand that included Paiwan and Hakka troops as well as Taiwanese.

   2007, Stephen Keeling, Brice Minnigh, The Rough Guide to Taiwan (Rough Guides), Penguin, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 510

4. USetcgovernmentTo reach a point at which continued progress is not possible.

   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.

   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

   1 more example

   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 Kevin R. Kilbride, Military Assistance Advisory Group-Vietnam (1954-1963): The Battle Of Ap Bac, Pickle Partners Publishing, →ISBN

5. transitiveTo finalize, bring to a conclusion, form the climax of.

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

   2010 September 7, “By the skin of her teeth”, in The Economist

   1 more example

   I would like to know if there are any true moralists who would like to correspond with someone who just instinctively feels there's something wrong somewhere in this unbenevolent world and wants to save it by culminating love and eradicating the captive emotions of the self (Ego).

   1986 April 26, Tony Marcus Antuan Haywood, “Personal advertisement”, in Gay Community News, page 18

1. not comparableanatomyRelating to the culmen.
2. not comparablebiologyGrowing upward, as opposed to lateral growth.