The Meaning of Milestone: What It Is and How To Use It

Do you know the definition of milestone? This article will provide you with all of the information you need on the word milestone, including its definition, etymology, usage, example sentences, and more!

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What does the word milestone mean?

According to The Free Dictionary, Collins English Dictionary, Random House Kernerman Webster’s College Dictionary Unabridged 7th edition, and the American Heritage Unabridged Dictionary of the English Language, the word milestone has a couple of different meanings. This word can be used literally to refer to a stone post or a stone pillar on a roadside or side of a road that is set up to indicate a distance from a given point. This stone marker indicates a measure of length, and such junctures can be used in civil engineering to show the distance from a specific point to the next town. These are sometimes called mile markers, and these series of numbered markers placed at regular intervals also can show a boundary on a voyage. A stone milepost on highways can keep people on the reaper path and be useful for accident reporting, because you could tell emergency services the numbered marker on the physical sign. This can also be used to mark a route relative in kilometres (km) or a kilometric point from a location. Have you seen milestones on a line of travel or railway line before?

A milestone can also be used figuratively to refer to an important event in a perso​​n’s life. New milestones might be had in child development, or a company might hit a new milestone in the last minutes of Trading Tuesday. Many things can achieve milestones, including the history of a nation, alumni achievements from Princeton University, elastocaloric materials and barocaloric materials, the advancement of knowledge in a critical time with colossal pressures, winning a trivia face-off, class milestones, faculty research achievements, the New York Times breaking news stories in the last quarter, completing a ten-mile hike or another number of miles today, advancements in medical history like the discovery of penicillin, the discovery of America in the history of exploration, the advancements in a career of a person, a certain number of followers on Twitter or Facebook, or other special occasions or an important stage in the life of some project. Milestones can literally and figuratively keep people on the proper path for record keeping and mile posts can show a remaining distance when going the recommended MPH. The pronunciation of milestone is ˈmaɪlˌstəʊn. Try making flashcards or a quiz to remember the definition of milestone.

Many different languages also use translations of milestone (ˈmaɪlstəʊn) to describe something that is hypothetical or conceptual in nature. You may notice that many of these words look and sound similar to the word milestone. These are called cognates, which are formed when two words have the same language of origin or root. This list of translations of milestone is from Word Sense. You would also find translation in other various places, like a German Dictionary fifth edition, Spanish Dictionary unabridged 8th edition, French online resource, Kernerman English Multilingual Dictionary 12th edition, or an Italian Dictionary 1st edition.

  •  Czech: milník‎ (masc.)
  •  Danish: milepæl‎ (common)
  •  Spanish: hito‎ (masc.), mojón‎ (masc.)
  •  Japanese: マイルストーン‎ (mairusutōn), キロポスト‎ (kiroposuto), 里程標‎ (りていひょう, riteihyō)
  •  Swedish: milsten‎ (common)
  •  Finnish: kilometripylväs‎
  •  Portuguese: marco miliário‎ (masc.), marco miliar‎
  •  Slovak: míľnik‎ (masc.)
  •  Serbo-Croatian: miljokaz‎
  •  Italian: pietra miliare‎
  •  Dutch: mijlpaal‎ (masc.), mijlsteen‎
  •  Scottish Gaelic: clach-mhìle‎ (fem.)
  •  Mandarin: 里程碑‎ (lǐchéngbēi)
  •  Polish: kamień milowy‎ (masc.)
  •  Esperanto: mejloŝtono‎
  •  Volapük: liölaston‎
  •  Tagalog: batong-milyahe‎
  •  Greek: χιλιομετροδείκτης‎
  •  Nynorsk: milestein‎ (masc.), milepåle‎ (masc.), milestolpe‎
  •  Norman: pièrre dé mille‎ (fem.)
  •  German: Kilometerstein‎ (masc.), Meilenstein‎ (masc.), Postmeilensäule‎ (masc.) (f)
  •  Macedonian: милјоказ‎
  •  Hungarian: kilométerkő‎, mérföldkő‎
  •  Russian: ми́льный ка́мень‎ (masc.), километро́вый столб‎ (masc.)
  •  French: borne‎ (fem.) (kilométrique)
  •  Catalan: fita‎
  •  Bokmål: milestein‎ (masc.), milepæl‎ (masc.), milepel‎ (masc.), milestolpe‎ (masc.)

Can you figure out what languages the below words are in?

myl ميل миля milha míle die meile mil mylia jūdze batu mijl engelsk mil mila د اندازى مقياس، ميل milha milă миля míľa milja milja engelsk mil, mile ไมล์ (เป็นหน่วยวัดความยาว) mil 英哩 миля فاصلے کی اکائی، ایک میل dặm 英里 mylpaal شاخِص مَسافَه: حَجَر مُقام على الطَّريق لبيان المسافَه камък отбелязващ растояние marco milník der Meilenstein kilometersten οδικός δείκτης mojón miilikivi مایل نما virstanpylväs borne routière אֶבֶן דֶרֶך मील का पत्थर miljokaz mérföldkő, mérföldkő tonggak mil mílusteinn pietra miliare 里程標 마일 표석(標石) mylias žymintis akmuo jūdžu akmens/stabs batu tanda jalan mijlsteen mile-/kilometerstolpe kamień milowy د مايل ښوونى آله marco bornă kilometrică камень с указанием расстояния в милях míľnik miljnik miljokaz milsten หลักไมล์ (mil) taşı 里程碑 верстовий стовп میل کا پتھر cột cây số 里程碑 mylpaal حادِث مُهِم، نُقْطَه هامَّه важно събитие marco milník der Meilenstein milepæl ορόσημο , σταθμός hito teetähis نقطه عطف merkkipaalu jalon צִיוּן דֶרֶך जीवन का कोई महत्वपूर्ण अवस्था या घटना prekretnica határkő peristiwa penting tímamót pietra miliare 画期的事件 획기적인 사건 gairė, labai svarbus įvykis pavērsiens peristiwa penting mijlpaal milepæl kamień milowy مهمه موضوع marco eve­niment capital, piatră de hotar веха míľnik mejnik prekretnica milstolpe เหตุการณ์สำคัญในชีวิตคนหรือประวัติศาสตร์ çok önemli olay, dönüm noktası 重大事件 віха کوئی اہم مرحلہ điểm mốc lịch sử 重大事件 hito m estos acontecimientos hito en

What are synonyms and antonyms of the word milestone?

There are many different words that one could use in place of the word milestone (ˈmaɪlˌstoʊn) in natural sounding English. Words that have the same definition as another word or phrase are called synonyms. Learning synonyms is a great way to expand your vocabulary and avoid repeating the same word frequently. This list of synonyms for milestone like the synonyms landmark is from Power Thesaurus

  •  box-office hit
  •  highlight
  •  aunty
  •  great point
  •  big cheese
  •  cornerstone
  •  attainment
  •  point
  •  cardinal point
  •  direction post
  •  high point
  •  bench mark
  •  big shot
  •  occasion
  •  mark
  •  innovative
  •  balk
  •  bestseller
  •  case
  •  big name
  •  biggie
  •  main point
  •  monument
  •  episode
  •  incident
  •  benchmark
  •  turning point
  •  development
  •  check point
  •  situation
  •  revolutionary
  •  land mark
  •  waymark
  •  heart
  •  act
  •  significant event
  •  happening
  •  acquirement
  •  waypost
  •  circumstance
  •  stone
  •  turning-point
  •  historic
  •  breakthrough
  •  reaching
  •  box-office success
  •  action
  •  anniversary
  •  event
  •  battleground
  •  miracle
  •  goal
  •  landmarks
  •  crisis
  •  milestones
  •  discovery
  •  turn
  •  chief thing
  •  innovatory
  •  signpost
  •  reference point
  •  bigwig
  •  dunkirk
  •  essential matter
  •  platform
  •  conjuncture
  •  landmark
  •  affluence
  •  gravestone
  •  post
  •  watersheds
  •  cairn
  •  instant
  •  major achievement
  •  core
  •  occurrence
  •  guide
  •  milepost
  •  ascendancy
  •  big fish
  •  climax
  •  marker
  •  key event
  •  sine qua non
  •  watershed
  •  phase
  •  baseline
  •  step
  •  thing
  •  accomplishment
  •  moment
  •  achievement
  •  sign
  •  fundamental
  •  juncture
  •  stage
  •  memorial
  •  pillar
  •  critical point
  •  big noise

There are also a plethora of different words that mean the opposite of the word milestone. These opposite words are called antonyms, which are words and phrases that one can learn to easily expand their English language vocabulary. This list of antonyms of milestone is also provided by Power Thesaurus

  •  botch
  •  dearth
  •  decay
  •  chink in one’s armour
  •  coming to nothing
  •  failing
  •  cessation of trading
  •  atrophy
  •  crack
  •  accident
  •  ruin
  •  air accident
  •  cutting out
  •  bug
  •  born loser
  •  end
  •  achilles heel
  •  collision
  •  attack
  •  dead loss
  •  weak spot
  •  blemish
  •  debacle
  •  car crash
  •  cock-up
  •  chink in one’s armor
  •  weak point
  •  blackout
  •  bump
  •  failure
  •  collapse
  •  chink in the armor
  •  closing
  •  abortion
  •  blunder
  •  abatement
  •  abnormality
  •  close-down
  •  closure
  •  death
  •  crisis
  •  bankruptcy
  •  dead duck
  •  crash
  •  catastrophe
  •  breakdown
  •  car accident
  •  air crash
  •  breaking down
  •  chip

Overall, the word milestone

Sources:

  1. Milestone | Word Sense
  2. Milestone synonyms – 376 Words and Phrases for Milestone | Power Thesaurus 
  3. Milestone antonyms – 698 Opposites of Milestone | Power Thesaurus 
  4. Milestone – definition of milestone | The Free Dictionary