culminate
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day
Merriam-Webster
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🗓️ 23 February 2026
⏱️ 2 minutes
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Summary
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for February 23, 2026 is:
culminate • \KUL-muh-nayt\ • verb
To culminate is to reach the end or the final result of something. Culminate is usually used with in or with.
// Their efforts have culminated in the discovery of a new treatment.
Examples:
“The grand emotions of these cartoons-come-to-life culminate in huge song and dance numbers, the songs sung by the voices you know and love from the movies and the dances enhanced by the grace of topflight figure skating.” — Christopher Arnott, The Hartford Courant, 11 Jan. 2026
Did you know?
When a star or other heavenly body culminates, it reaches its highest point above the horizon from the vantage point of an observer on the ground. The English verb culminate was drawn (via Medieval Latin) from the Late Latin verb culminare, meaning “to crown,” specifically for this astronomical application. Its ultimate root is the Latin noun culmen, meaning “top.” Today, the word’s typical context is less lofty: it can mean “to reach a climactic point,” as in “a long career culminating in a prestigious award,” but it can also simply mean “to reach the end of something,” as in “a sentence culminating in a period.”
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | It's the Word of the Day podcast for February 23rd. |
| 0:10.0 | Today's word is culminate, spelled C-U-L-M-I-N-A-T-E. |
| 0:18.0 | Culminate is a verb. To culminate is to reach the end or the final result of something. |
| 0:24.8 | Culminate is usually used with in or with. Here's the word used in a sentence from the Hartford |
| 0:31.5 | Current. The grand emotions of these cartoons come to life culminate in huge song and dance numbers, the songs |
| 0:39.6 | sung by the voices you know and love from the movies, and the dances enhanced by the grace of |
| 0:45.3 | top-flight figure skating. When a star or other heavenly body culminates, it reaches its highest |
| 0:52.6 | point above the horizon from the vantage point of an observer on |
| 0:56.5 | the ground. The English verb culminate was drawn via medieval Latin from the late Latin verb culminare, |
| 1:04.7 | meaning to crown, specifically for this astronomical application. Its ultimate root is the Latin noun coolman, meaning top. |
| 1:13.7 | Today, the words typical context is less lofty. It can mean to reach a climactic point, |
| 1:20.9 | as in a long career culminating in a prestigious award, but it can also simply mean to reach the end of something, as in a |
| 1:30.2 | sentence culminating in a period. With your word of the day, I'm Peter Sokoloski. |
| 1:39.3 | Visit Miriamwebster.com today for definitions, wordplay, and trending word lookups. |
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