culminate
KUL-muh-naytverbMeaning to reach the highest point or the final, biggest stage
Memory hook CLIMB-inate: it CLIMBS to the big finish. The fireworks show climbs higher and higher and ends with one giant golden burst: the show culminates in a grand finale.
A week of rehearsals culminated in a standing ovation on opening night.
In context The long effort to save the old theater culminated in a grand reopening, with the whole town packed inside for the first show in twenty years.
Similar climax, peak, come to a head, build up to
Opposite begin, start
From Late Latin culminare, “to crown, to reach the top,” from Latin culmen, “top, summit.”