milestone

English

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milestone

Wikipedia

Etymology

From mile +‎ stone. Compare Dutch mijlsteen (“milestone”), German Low German Mielensteen (“milestone”), German Meilenstein (“milestone”), Swedish milsten (“milestone”).

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈmaɪlˌstoʊn/
• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈmaɪlstəʊn/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

Noun

milestone (plural milestones)

1. A stone milepost (or by extension in other materials), one of a series of numbered markers placed along a road at regular intervals, typically at the side of the road or in a median.
2. (idiomatic) An important event in a person's life or career, in the history of a nation, in the life of some project, etc.
   • 1933, Stephen Spender, The Funeral:

     Death is another milestone on their way.

   • 2012 March-April, Terrence J. Sejnowski, “Well-connected Brains”, in American Scientist‎, volume 100, number 2, archived from the original on 27 April 2017, page 171:

     Creating a complete map of the human connectome would therefore be a monumental milestone but not the end of the journey to understanding how our brains work.

   • 2021 October 20, “Stop & Examine”, in RAIL, number 942, page 71:

     She bought the model as a surprise gift for a friend who is a lifelong HST fan and railwayman, and who will soon be celebrating a milestone birthday.

Synonyms

• landmark

Related terms

• mileage
• milemark
• mile marker
• milepole
• milepost

Translations

one of a series of numbered markers placed along a road at regular intervals

Armenian: please add this translation if you can Belarusian: верставы слуп m (vjerstavy slup), кіламетровы слуп m (kilamjetróvy slup), мільны слуп m (milʹny slup), мільны камень m (milʹny kamjenʹ) Bulgarian: километричен камък (kilometričen kamǎk) Catalan: fita (ca) Chinese: Mandarin: 里程碑 (zh) (lǐchéngbēi) Czech: milník (cs) m Danish: milepæl c Dutch: mijlpaal (nl) m, mijlsteen (nl) Esperanto: mejloŝtono Estonian: verstapost Extremaduran: miliáriu Finnish: kilometripylväs, kilometritolppa (fi), mailitolppa French: borne (fr) f, borne kilométrique (fr) f Galician: marco (gl) m German: Kilometerstein m, Meilenstein (de) m, Postmeilensäule (de) m or f Greek: χιλιομετροδείκτης (el) (chiliometrodeíktis) Hebrew: אבן מיל (he) f (even mil), אבן דרך (he) f (even derekh) Hungarian: kilométerkő (hu), mérföldkő (hu) Indonesian: tanggal penting Italian: pietra miliare Japanese: 一里塚 (ja) (いちりづか, ichirizuka), 里程標 (ja) (りていひょう, riteihyō) Latin: mīlliārium n Macedonian: милјоказ m (miljokaz) Malayalam: നാഴികക്കല്ല് (ml) (nāḻikakkallŭ) Norman: pièrre dé mille f Norwegian: Bokmål: milestein m, milepæl (no) m, milepel m, milestolpe m Nynorsk: milestein m, milepåle m, milestolpe Polish: kamień milowy (pl) m Portuguese: marco miliário m, marco miliar Russian: ми́льный ка́мень m (mílʹnyj kámenʹ), километро́вый столб m (kilometróvyj stolb) Scottish Gaelic: clach-mhìle f Serbo-Croatian: miljokaz (sh) Slovak: míľnik m Spanish: hito (es) m, mojón (es) m, cipo (es) m, hita (es) f, fito (es) m (disused), borna f, moto (es) m Swedish: milsten c, milstolpe (sv) c Tagalog: batong-milyahe Turkish: kilometre taşı Ukrainian: віха f (vixa), мильовий камінь m (mylʹovyj kaminʹ) Vietnamese: cột mốc, cây số (vi), cột cây số, cột dặm Volapük: liölaston

important event

Bulgarian: важно събитие (važno sǎbitie) Catalan: fita (ca) Chinese: Mandarin: 里程碑 (zh) (lǐchéngbēi) Czech: mezník (cs) m, milník (cs) m Danish: milepæl c Dutch: mijlpaal (nl) m, keerpunt (nl) n Esperanto: mejloŝtono Finnish: virstanpylväs (fi), merkkipaalu French: jalon (fr) m Georgian: ნიშანსვეტი (nišansveṭi) German: Meilenstein (de) m, Etappenziel (de) n, Markstein (de) m Greek: ορόσημο (el) n (orósimo) Hebrew: אבן דרך (he) f (even derekh) Hindi: मीलपत्थर m (mīlpatthar) Hungarian: mérföldkő (hu) Italian: pietra miliare, traguardo (it) Japanese: 事 (ja) (こと, koto), 転換点 (てんかんてん, tenkanten), 一大事 (ja) (いちだいじ, ichidaiji), 画期的出来事 (かっきてきできごと, kakkiteki dekigoto) Macedonian: пресвртница f (presvrtnica) Malayalam: നാഴികക്കല്ല് (ml) (nāḻikakkallŭ) Norwegian: Bokmål: milepæl (no) m, milepel m, minestolpe m, milestein m Nynorsk: milestolpe m, milepåle m, milestein m Polish: kamień milowy (pl) m, milowy krok m Portuguese: marco (pt) m Russian: ве́ха (ru) f (véxa), эта́п (ru) m (etáp), рубе́ж (ru) m (rubéž) Scottish Gaelic: clach-mhìle f Serbo-Croatian: prekretnica (sh) f Slovak: medzník m, míľnik m Spanish: hito (es) m, jalón (es) m Swedish: milstolpe (sv) c Turkish: kilometre taşı Vietnamese: mốc (vi) Volapük: liölaston

See also

• game changer
• landmark
• watershed

Verb

milestone (third-person singular simple present milestones, present participle milestoning, simple past and past participle milestoned)

1. To place milestones along (a road, etc.).
2. (idiomatic) To plan out a project as a series of major steps.

Translations

to place milestones

Polish: stawiać kamienie milowe impf, postawić kamienie milowe pf Spanish: amojonar (es)

Anagrams

• lemoniest, lime-stone, limestone