culminant

[ kuhl-muh-nuhnt ]

adjective

1. culminating; topmost.

ˈculminant

/ ˈkʌlmɪnənt /

adjective

1. highest or culminating

Word History and Origins

Origin of culminant¹

1595–1605; < Medieval Latin culminant- (stem of culmināns ), present participle of culmināre to come to a peak. See culminate, -ant

Example Sentences

I had to use the word that Gethenians would apply only to a person in the culminant phase of kemmer, the alternative being their word for a female animal.

From Literature

The belief in witches long passed—as well it might—as the culminant example of human ignorance and folly; and in so comparatively recent a book as Mr. Lecky's "History of Rationalism," the sudden decline of this popular conviction, without argument or disapproval, is used to illustrate the irresistible melting away of error and falsity in the "intellectual climate" of a wiser age.

From Project Gutenberg

Come hither, proud and ancient East, Gather ye to this Lady of the North, And sit down with her at her solemn feast, Upon this culminant day of all her days; For ye have heard the thunder of her goings-forth, And wonder of her large imperial ways.

From Project Gutenberg

The former seem to have been at their culminant point during the Cretaceous Period, when many species of Scalpellum and Pollicipes, and a singular new genus, Loricula, existed; Pollicipes is the oldest genus, having been found in the Lower Oolite, and, perhaps, even in the Lias.

From Project Gutenberg

In 1830 the fortunes of the Constitutionnel had reached the culminant point.

From Project Gutenberg