fulfillment
noun
Fulfillment — the act of bringing a desire, promise, or hope to completion
Definition
The act of consummating something (a desire or promise etc)
In depth
Fulfillment is the act of consummating something, such as a desire, promise, or potential, bringing it from mere intention into actual, complete realization. The word carries deep emotional resonance, naming the satisfying sense of a life, relationship, or ambition having achieved what it set out to achieve.
Origin
The word descends from Old English fullfyllan, to fill completely, formed from full and fyllan (to fill). That image of complete filling remains the word's essential core: fulfillment is, etymologically, the state of being filled entirely, with no remaining emptiness or unmet need.
Usage examples
"The fulfillment of her childhood dream came later in life than she had ever expected, but no less sweetly for the delay."
"He had built his entire career around the fulfillment of a single promise made decades earlier."
"True fulfillment, the philosopher argued, rarely resembles the version of it people imagine in advance."
How to use it
Fulfillment is essential vocabulary across personal, psychological, and motivational writing, valuable for describing the deep satisfaction of seeing a long-held desire, promise, or potential fully realized rather than merely attempted.
Related concepts
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