Definition of "culminate" [cul•mi•nate]

• To reach the highest point or degree; climax: habitual antagonism that culminated in open hostility. (verb-intransitive)
• To come to completion; end: Years of waiting culminated in a tearful reunion. (verb-intransitive)
• Astronomy To reach the highest point above an observer's horizon. Used of stars and other celestial bodies. (verb-intransitive)
• To bring to the point of greatest intensity or to completion; climax: The ceremony culminated a long week of preparation. (verb-transitive)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• ""What this will do - and I hate to use the word culminate - but this will culminate in a strategic plan and then go into an implementation phase."
• "Stalls for the thirty-eight-member choir face the congregation, and vaulted ceilings culminate in a magnificent triangular stained glass window—the only artwork in sight."
• "By the way, I'm delighted that similar public-engagement strategies will be broadly leveraged during the USA Science & Engineering Festival, which will culminate October 23-24 with an expo on the National Mall."