Meanings
nounmilestone (plural milestones)
plural milestones
- A stone milepost (or by extension in other materials), one of a series of numbered markers placed along a road at regular intervals, typically at the side of the road or in a median.
- idiomaticAn important event in a person's life or career, in the history of a nation, in the life of some project, etc.
Death is another milestone on their way.
1933, Stephen Spender, The Funeral2 more examples
Creating a complete map of the human connectome would therefore be a monumental milestone but not the end of the journey to understanding how our brains work.
2012 March-April, Terrence J. Sejnowski, “Well-connected Brains”, in American Scientist, volume 100, number 2, archived from the original on 27 Apr 2017, page 171She bought the model as a surprise gift for a friend who is a lifelong HST fan and railwayman, and who will soon be celebrating a milestone birthday.
2021 October 20, “Stop & Examine”, in RAIL, number 942, page 71
verbmilestone (third-person singular simple present milestones, present participle milestoning, simple past and past participle milestoned)
present singular third person milestones · participle present milestoning · participle past milestoned · past milestoned
Synonyms & antonyms
Similar
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
From mile + stone. Compare Dutch mijlsteen (“milestone”), German Low German Mielensteen (“milestone”), German Meilenstein (“milestone”), Swedish milsten (“milestone”).
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Bulgarian километричен камък, важно събитие
- километричен камък (kilometričen kamăk)one of a series of numbered markers placed along a road at regular intervals
- важно събитие (važno săbitie)important event
Catalan fita, fita
- fitaone of a series of numbered markers placed along a road at regular intervals
- fitaimportant event
Chinese Mandarin 里程碑, 里程碑
- 里程碑 (lǐchéngbēi)one of a series of numbered markers placed along a road at regular intervals
- 里程碑 (lǐchéngbēi)important event
Czech milník, mezník
- milníkone of a series of numbered markers placed along a road at regular intervals
- mezníkimportant event
- milníkimportant event
Danish milepæl, milepæl
- milepælone of a series of numbered markers placed along a road at regular intervals
- milepælimportant event
Dutch mijlpaal, mijlsteen
- mijlpaalone of a series of numbered markers placed along a road at regular intervals
- mijlsteenone of a series of numbered markers placed along a road at regular intervals
- mijlpaalimportant event
- keerpuntimportant event
Esperanto mejloŝtono, mejloŝtono
- mejloŝtonoone of a series of numbered markers placed along a road at regular intervals
- mejloŝtonoimportant event
Estonian verstapost
- verstapostone of a series of numbered markers placed along a road at regular intervals
Finnish kilometripylväs, kilometritolppa
- kilometripylväsone of a series of numbered markers placed along a road at regular intervals
- kilometritolppaone of a series of numbered markers placed along a road at regular intervals
- mailitolppaone of a series of numbered markers placed along a road at regular intervals
- virstanpylväsimportant event
- merkkipaaluimportant event
French borne, borne kilométrique
- borneone of a series of numbered markers placed along a road at regular intervals
- borne kilométriqueone of a series of numbered markers placed along a road at regular intervals
- jalonimportant event
German Kilometerstein, Meilenstein
- Kilometersteinone of a series of numbered markers placed along a road at regular intervals
- Meilensteinone of a series of numbered markers placed along a road at regular intervals
- Postmeilensäuleone of a series of numbered markers placed along a road at regular intervals
- Meilensteinimportant event
- Etappenzielimportant event
- Marksteinimportant event
Greek χιλιομετροδείκτης, ορόσημο
- χιλιομετροδείκτης (chiliometrodeíktis)one of a series of numbered markers placed along a road at regular intervals
- ορόσημο (orósimo)important event
Hebrew אבן מיל, אבן דרך
- אבן מילone of a series of numbered markers placed along a road at regular intervals
- אבן דרךone of a series of numbered markers placed along a road at regular intervals
- אבן דרךimportant event
Hindi मीलपत्थर
- मीलपत्थर (mīlpatthar)important event
Hungarian kilométerkő, mérföldkő
- kilométerkőone of a series of numbered markers placed along a road at regular intervals
- mérföldkőone of a series of numbered markers placed along a road at regular intervals
- mérföldkőimportant event
Indonesian tanggal penting
- tanggal pentingone of a series of numbered markers placed along a road at regular intervals
Italian pietra miliare, pietra miliare
- pietra miliareone of a series of numbered markers placed along a road at regular intervals
- pietra miliareimportant event
- traguardoimportant event
Japanese 一里塚, 里程標
- 一里塚 (ichirizuka)one of a series of numbered markers placed along a road at regular intervals
- 里程標 (riteihyō)one of a series of numbered markers placed along a road at regular intervals
- 事 (koto)important event
- 転換点 (tenkanten)important event
- 一大事 (ichidaiji)important event
- 画期的出来事 (kakkiteki dekigoto)important event
Latin mīlliārium
- mīlliāriumone of a series of numbered markers placed along a road at regular intervals
Malay batu penanda
- batu penandaone of a series of numbered markers placed along a road at regular intervals
Norwegian Bokmål milestein, milepæl
- milesteinone of a series of numbered markers placed along a road at regular intervals
- milepælone of a series of numbered markers placed along a road at regular intervals
- milepelone of a series of numbered markers placed along a road at regular intervals
- milestolpeone of a series of numbered markers placed along a road at regular intervals
- milepælimportant event
- milepelimportant event
- minestolpeimportant event
- milesteinimportant event
Polish kamień milowy, kamień milowy
- kamień milowyone of a series of numbered markers placed along a road at regular intervals
- kamień milowyimportant event
- milowy krokimportant event
- stawiać kamienie miloweto place milestones
- postawić kamienie miloweto place milestones
Portuguese marco miliário, marco miliar
- marco miliárioone of a series of numbered markers placed along a road at regular intervals
- marco miliarone of a series of numbered markers placed along a road at regular intervals
- marcoimportant event
Russian ми́льный ка́мень, километро́вый столб
- ми́льный ка́мень (mílʹnyj kámenʹ)one of a series of numbered markers placed along a road at regular intervals
- километро́вый столб (kilometróvyj stolb)one of a series of numbered markers placed along a road at regular intervals
- ве́ха (véxa)important event
- эта́п (etáp)important event
- рубе́ж (rubéž)important event
Scottish Gaelic clach-mhìle, clach-mhìle
- clach-mhìleone of a series of numbered markers placed along a road at regular intervals
- clach-mhìleimportant event
Slovak míľnik, medzník
- míľnikone of a series of numbered markers placed along a road at regular intervals
- medzníkimportant event
- míľnikimportant event
Spanish hito, mojón
- hitoone of a series of numbered markers placed along a road at regular intervals
- mojónone of a series of numbered markers placed along a road at regular intervals
- cipoone of a series of numbered markers placed along a road at regular intervals
- hitaone of a series of numbered markers placed along a road at regular intervals
- fito (disused)one of a series of numbered markers placed along a road at regular intervals
- bornaone of a series of numbered markers placed along a road at regular intervals
- motoone of a series of numbered markers placed along a road at regular intervals
- hitoimportant event
- jalónimportant event
- amojonarto place milestones
Swedish milsten, milstolpe
- milstenone of a series of numbered markers placed along a road at regular intervals
- milstolpeone of a series of numbered markers placed along a road at regular intervals
- milstolpeimportant event
Tagalog batong-milyahe
- batong-milyaheone of a series of numbered markers placed along a road at regular intervals
Turkish kilometre taşı, kilometre taşı
- kilometre taşıone of a series of numbered markers placed along a road at regular intervals
- kilometre taşıimportant event
Ukrainian віха, мильовий камінь
- віха (vixa)one of a series of numbered markers placed along a road at regular intervals
- мильовий камінь (mylʹovyj kaminʹ)one of a series of numbered markers placed along a road at regular intervals
Vietnamese cột mốc, cây số
- cột mốcone of a series of numbered markers placed along a road at regular intervals
- cây sốone of a series of numbered markers placed along a road at regular intervals
- cột cây sốone of a series of numbered markers placed along a road at regular intervals
- cột dặmone of a series of numbered markers placed along a road at regular intervals
- mốcimportant event
Rhymes & wordplay
Anagrams
Cite this entry
APA
milestone. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/milestone
MLA
“milestone.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/milestone. Accessed November 2, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “milestone,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/milestone.
Source: milestone on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.