fruition
noun
Fruition — the ripened, satisfying completion of a long-held hope or plan
Definition
Something that is made real or concrete; "the victory was the realization of a whole year's work"
In depth
Fruition, like realization, names something made real or concrete, but the word carries a distinct agricultural metaphor, the sense of a long-tended plan or hope finally ripening into fulfillment, much as a fruit tree finally bears its harvest. The word implies patience and gradual development, a process that could not be rushed.
Origin
The word descends from Latin fruitio, an enjoying, from frui, to enjoy or use, related to fructus, fruit. That dual root, both enjoyment and fruit, gives the word its rich double resonance: fruition is at once the literal ripening of fruit and the deeper, more abstract pleasure of finally enjoying what one has long worked toward.
Usage examples
"Years of patient effort finally came to fruition with the company's first genuinely profitable quarter."
"Her dream of opening the small bookstore reached fruition only after a decade of careful saving."
"The garden's fruition, after a long and uncertain spring, rewarded every hour spent tending it."
How to use it
Fruition is elegant, evocative vocabulary particularly well suited to describing the patient, gradual realization of long-held hopes or plans, its agricultural metaphor lending a sense of organic, earned development rather than sudden or accidental success.
Related concepts
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