culmination
noun
Simple meaning
An endpoint arrived at after some series of actions or events, or some period, usually after the series or period has ended.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
kuhlmuhnayshuhnSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
kəlməˈneɪʃən
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
ukcanada
An endpoint arrived at after some series of actions or events, or some period, usually after the series or period has ended. The sum of something.
us
An attainment or arrival at the highest pitch of glory, power, etc.
USeducation
A ceremony marking the completion of studies at an elementary school, middle school or junior high school.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C2 · Proficient
- Frequency
- Uncommon
- Typical Use
- Primarily written
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: An attainment or arrival at the highest pitch of glory, power, etc.
Used this way, culmination is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use culmination
- “Their achievements stand as a culmination of centuries of development.”noun
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Related Words
Connected to the same idea, not synonyms.
- decadenoun
- celebrationnoun
- preparationnoun
- tournamentnoun
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.