climax
Definition from Wiktionary, the free dictionary
See also clímax
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[edit] English
[edit] Etymology
From Latin clīmax, from Ancient Greek κλῖμαξ (klimaks, “a ladder, a staircase, a climax in rhetoric”), from κλίνω (klinō, “I lean, slant”).
[edit] Pronunciation
[edit] Noun
climax (plural climaxes)
- The point of greatest intensity or force in an ascending series; a culmination
- 1949, Bruce Kiskaddon, George R. Stewart, Earth Abides
- The snowshoe-rabbits build up through the years until they reach a climax when the seem to be everywhere; then with dramatic suddenness their pestilence falls upon them.
- 1949, Bruce Kiskaddon, George R. Stewart, Earth Abides
- The turning point in a plot or in dramatic action, especially one marking a change in the protagonist's affairs.
- A stage of ecological development in which a community of organisms, is stable and capable of perpetuating itself.
- (slang) An orgasm.
- (rhetoric): Ordering of terms in increasing order of importance or magnitude.
- (rhetoric): Anadiplosis.
[edit] Synonyms
- See also Wikisaurus:apex
[edit] Coordinate terms
- (order by increasing importance): catacosmesis
[edit] Derived terms
[edit] Related terms
[edit] Translations
point of greatest intensity or force
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orgasm
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[edit] Verb
climax (third-person singular simple present climaxes, present participle climaxing, simple past and past participle climaxed)
[edit] External links
- climax in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
- climax in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911
