Reaching or constituting the highest point; at or forming a culmination.
From Latin culminans, present participle of culminare (to reach the summit). This term has been in English since the 16th century, borrowed directly from Latin astronomical and philosophical texts.
Medieval astronomers used 'culminant' to describe when a star reached its highest point in the sky, and the word stayed technical until it slowly became poetic language for any kind of peak moment.
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