milestone

C2+ Topic:General Vocabulary

US /ˈmaɪlˌstoʊn/ UK /ˈmaɪlˌstəʊn/ See IPA manual

Meanings

1

noun
a significant stage or event; a roadside marker of distance

Graduating was an important milestone in her life.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · a significant stage or... landmarkturning pointwatershed benchmark marker achievement

Word family

Related forms milemilepost

Appears in

Phrases (1)

See all

milestone birthday
a birthday marking a particularly significant age, such as 18, 40, or 100

Adjective + noun

Etymology

A compound of mile (Old English mīl, from Latin mīlia passuum 'a thousand paces') + stone (Old English stān).

mīl Old English mīlia Latin

View etymology graph ->

Topics

General Vocabulary

External links

# milestone

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** /ˈmaɪlˌstoʊn/
**IPA (UK):** /ˈmaɪlˌstəʊn/

## Meanings
1. a significant stage or event; a roadside marker of distance

## Examples
- Graduating was an important milestone in her life.

## Synonyms
- landmark
- turning point
- watershed
- benchmark
- marker
- achievement

## Related Forms
- mile
- milepost

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: mīl
- Root: mīlia

## Etymology
A compound of mile (Old English mīl, from Latin mīlia passuum 'a thousand paces') + stone (Old English stān).

## AI Etymology
Milestone is a compound of mile (Old English mīl, from Latin mīlia passuum 'a thousand paces') + stone (Old English stān). The etymological trail includes Old English mīl and Latin mīlia. As a noun, milestone means a significant stage or event; a roadside marker of distance. The same family is visible in related forms such as mile and milepost. Morphologically, the word is built from the elements named in its history, so the modern form preserves a visible compound, prefix, or suffix structure.

## Topics
- General Vocabulary

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