different between culm vs culminate

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /k?lm/

Etymology 1

Perhaps related to coal. Perhaps from Welsh cwlm (“knot or tie”), applied to this species of coal, which is much found in balls or knots in some parts of Wales: compare Old English culme.

Noun

culm (countable and uncountable, plural culms)

1. waste coal, used as a poor quality fuel; slack.
2. anthracite, especially when found in small masses

Etymology 2

Borrowed from Latin culmus. Doublet of haulm.

Noun

culm (plural culms)

1. (botany) the stem of a plant, especially of grass or sedge

Translations

Anagrams

• Clum, MCLU, clum

English

Etymology

Recorded since 1647, from Medieval Latin culminatus, the past participle of culminare (“to crown”), from Latin culmen (“peak, the highest point”), older form columen (“top, summit”), from a Proto-Indo-European base *kol-, *kelH- (“to project, rise; peak, summit, top”), whence also English hill and holm.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?k?lm?ne?t/

Verb

culminate (third-person singular simple present culminates, present participle culminating, simple past and past participle culminated)

1. (intransitive, astronomy) Of a heavenly body, to be at the highest point, reach its greatest altitude.
2. (intransitive, also figuratively) To reach the (physical) summit, highest point, peak etc.

   Synonym: peak

   • 1875, James Dwight Dana, Manual of Geology

     The type of Cycads culminated in the Mesozoic

   • The house of Burgundy was rapidly culminating.
3. (intransitive, figuratively) To reach a climax; to come to the decisive point (especially as an end or conclusion).

4. (transitive) To finalize, bring to a conclusion, form the climax of.
   • 2010, "By the skin of her teeth", The Economist, 7 Sep 2010:

     The announcement by Tony Windsor and Rob Oakeshott in Canberra culminated more than a fortnight of intensive political horse-trading.

Related terms

• culm
• culminant
• culmination
• culminating
• culminated

Translations

Adjective

culminate (not comparable)

1. (anatomy) Relating to the culmen

Further reading

• culminate in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• culminate in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Italian

Verb

culminate

1. second-person plural present indicative of culminare
2. second-person plural imperative of culminare