CULMINATE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does culminate mean? 

• CULMINATE (verb)
  The verb CULMINATE has 5 senses:

1. end, especially to reach a final or climactic stage

2. bring to a head or to the highest point

3. reach the highest or most decisive point

4. reach the highest altitude or the meridian, of a celestial body

5. rise to, or form, a summit

  Familiarity information: CULMINATE used as a verb is common.

 Dictionary entry details 

• CULMINATE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they culminate    ... he / she / it culminates   
Past simple: culminated   
Past participle: culminated   
-ing form: culminating   

Sense 1

Meaning:

End, especially to reach a final or climactic stage

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

climax; culminate

Context example:

The meeting culminated in a tearful embrace

Hypernyms (to "culminate" is one way to...):

cease; end; finish; stop; terminate (have an end, in a temporal, spatial, or quantitative sense; either spatial or metaphorical)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "culminate"):

crown; top (be the culminating event)

Sentence frame:

Something is ----ing PP

Derivation:

culmination (a concluding action)

culmination (the decisive moment in a novel or play)

culmination (a final climactic stage)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Bring to a head or to the highest point

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Context example:

Seurat culminated pointillism

Hypernyms (to "culminate" is one way to...):

end; terminate (bring to an end or halt)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s somebody

Derivation:

culmination (a final climactic stage)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Reach the highest or most decisive point

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Hypernyms (to "culminate" is one way to...):

accomplish; achieve; attain; reach (to gain with effort)

Sentence frames:

Something is ----ing PP
Somebody ----s PP

Derivation:

culmination (the decisive moment in a novel or play)

culmination (a final climactic stage)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Reach the highest altitude or the meridian, of a celestial body

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Hypernyms (to "culminate" is one way to...):

arrive at; attain; gain; hit; make; reach (reach a destination, either real or abstract)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

Derivation:

culmination ((astronomy) a heavenly body's highest celestial point above an observer's horizon)

Sense 5

Meaning:

Rise to, or form, a summit

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Context example:

The helmet culminated in a crest

Hypernyms (to "culminate" is one way to...):

form (assume a form or shape)

Sentence frame:

Something is ----ing PP

 Context examples 

These two responses constitute the basis of the hypovolemic shock and multi-organ failure that sepsis patients develop, culminating in their death.

(New study sheds fresh light on the genetic mechanisms involved in sepsis, the leading cause of death in ICUs, University of Granada)

The cell cycle is an ordered set of events, culminating in cell growth and division into two daughter cells.

(Cell Cycle Process, NCI Thesaurus)

Scratching the skin triggers a series of immune responses culminating in an increased number of activated mast cells — immune cells involved in allergic reactions — in the small intestine.

(Scratching the skin primes the gut for allergic reactions to food, mouse study suggests, National Institutes of Health)

A work project will culminate and finish within four days of the full moon in Virgo on March 9.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

Progression through the stages of cell cycle, including G1-S-G2-M, culminates in cell growth and division into two daughter cells.

(Cell Cycle Progression, NCI Thesaurus)

When activated, complement proteins form a pathway of proteolytic reactions that culminates in the lysis of foreign cells.

(Classical Complement Pathway, NCI Thesaurus/BIOCARTA)

These cellular signals, generated from two different synaptic origins, trigger a cascade of events culminating in a phosphorylation-dependent, long-term reduction in AMPA receptor sensitivity at the PF-PC synapse.

(Long-Term Depression Pathway, NCI Thesaurus/KEGG)

Hence the fierce mutterings of the lower classes and the constant discontent, breaking out into local tumult and outrage, and culminating some years later in the great rising of Tyler.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

These signaling events culminate in reorganization of the actin cytoskeleton; a prerequisite for changes in cell shape and motility, and gene expression.

(Focal Adhesion Pathway, NCI Thesaurus/KEGG)

Upon sensing DNA, AIM2 triggers the assembly of the inflammasome, culminating in interleukin maturation.

(Cytosolic DNA-Sensing Pathway, NCI Thesaurus/KEGG)