fulfilled

1. 1
   adjective

   Emotionally satisfied, with a sense that one's life or work carries real meaning.

   After decades in medicine, she retired feeling deeply fulfilled by her work.

   He never felt truly fulfilled until he started writing again.

   Similarsatisfied, content, contented

   Oppositeunfulfilled, dissatisfied, frustrated

   Note

   Unlike the participle it comes from, this is a true adjective: it compares (more fulfilled, most fulfilled) and readily takes adverbs such as emotionally, personally, deeply or truly. What brings the satisfaction is introduced by in or by, as in fulfilled in a new career or fulfilled by one's work. Fully fulfilled is grammatical, but it puts a second full beside the one already inside the word.

2. 2
   verbUS

   Simple past and past participle of fulfill.

   The contractor fulfilled every term of the agreement on schedule.

   She had fulfilled all the requirements by the end of the year.

   Note

   American fulfill and British fulfil share this past form, because the British spelling doubles its l before the ending. The verb is transitive, so something is always fulfilled: a promise, a requirement, the terms of a contract. In commerce an order is fulfilled when it is packed and shipped. After be, the form can drift toward the "satisfied" adjective, where it describes a person rather than a task.

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