culminate Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. verb end, especially to reach a final or climactic stage
    climax.
    • The meeting culminated in a tearful embrace
  2. verb bring to a head or to the highest point
    • Seurat culminated pointillism
  3. verb reach the highest or most decisive point
  4. verb reach the highest altitude or the meridian, of a celestial body
  5. verb rise to, or form, a summit
    • The helmet culminated in a crest

WordNet

Cul"mi*nate intransitive verb
Etymology
L. cuimen top or ridge. See Column.
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Culminated present participle & verbal noun Culminating (-noun`tng
Definitions
  1. To reach its highest point of altitude; to come to the meridian; to be vertical or directly overhead.
    As when his beams at noon Culminate from the equator. Milton.
  2. To reach the highest point, as of rank, size, power, numbers, etc.
    The reptile race culminated in the secondary era. Dana.
    The house of Burgundy was rapidly culminating. Motley.
Cul"mi*nate adjective
Definitions
  1. Growing upward, as distinguished from a laterral growth; -- applied to the growth of corals. Dana.

Webster 1913