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Glite Dictionary
consummatory

consummatory

9.9
About the final act that completes something, for example a marriage
  • adjective
  • /ˌkɒnsəˈmeɪtəri/
  • NSFW
: consumatorio
  • The couple shared a consummatory kiss after exchanging their vows.
  • a consummatory experience

Examples

  • The final meeting was consummatory, bringing closure to the lengthy negotiation process.

  • Feelings, as I think of them, are more likely to be ends in themselves, what Dewey liked to call "consummatory values," inviting us to stop and savor the experience for itself.

    Academic text (1993)

  • inquiring why consummatory experiences are valuable.

    Academic text (1991)

  • We have noted the stress that Dewey placed on consummatory experiences of harmony and wholeness.

    Academic text (1991)

  • The criterion for such consummatory occasions was the degree of harmony and wholeness attained.

    Academic text (1991)

  • Nevertheless, Dewey also came to emphasize the role of consummatory experiences, characterized by the experience of harmony and wholeness, that bring inquiry to a certain close and lend to it a kind of intrinsic, self-contained worth of its own.

    Academic text (1991)

  • Their wedding ceremony was a consummatory event that marked the union of their lives.

Antonyms

preliminary
219 5.2

Happening before a main event to prepare for it

inconclusive
48 6.5

Gives no clear decision or result

Surface Forms

consummatory positive

Morphology

consummatory = consummation + consummate (transparent) = consummate + ory

The adjective is a standard derivation meaning 'relating to consummation' and is understandable from 'consummation' or 'consummate' plus the adjectival suffix '-ory'.

Etymology

Consummatory comes from the Latin consummare, built from con- 'together' and summa 'sum' or 'total', the same root you see in sum and summary. So a consummatory act is the final step that brings parts together into a whole and completes or finishes something.