Crowning

How to spell crowning

8 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce crowning

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does crowning mean?

1. adjectiveForming the most successful, impressive, or final part of something; the high point.
2. verbPresent participle of crown: placing a crown on someone, or forming the top of something.

Crowning in a sentence

• adjective

  The lifetime award was the crowning achievement of her long career.

• verb

  The ceremony of crowning the new monarch lasted several hours.

• adjective

  The restored spire is the crowning glory of the medieval cathedral.

• verb

  A thick layer of icing was crowning the wedding cake.

Where does crowning come from?

Language of origin: Latin

The base word crown comes from the Latin corona, meaning 'wreath' or 'garland', which described the circle of leaves or metal placed on a victor's or ruler's head. Latin corona passed into Old French as corone or coroune, and English adopted it in the 1100s and 1200s, settling on the spelling crown. From the literal royal headpiece the sense broadened to mean the very top or highest point of anything, since a crown sits at the summit of the head. The participle and adjective crowning, formed by adding -ing, carries that figurative height: a crowning moment is the one that tops all the rest. The same corona root still survives untouched in words like coronation and the modern coronavirus, named for its crown-like halo of spikes.

How the word is built

• crown (top, summit, royal headpiece)
• -ing (adjective/participle suffix)