climax
Definition from Wiktionary, the free dictionary
See also clímax
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English [edit]
Etymology [edit]
From Latin clīmax, from Ancient Greek κλῖμαξ (klimaks, “a ladder, a staircase, a climax in rhetoric”), from κλίνω (klinō, “I lean, slant”).
Pronunciation [edit]
Noun [edit]
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.
Synonyms [edit]
- See also Wikisaurus:apex
Coordinate terms [edit]
- (order by increasing importance): catacosmesis
Derived terms [edit]
Related terms [edit]
Translations [edit]
point of greatest intensity or force
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orgasm
Verb [edit]
climax (third-person singular simple present climaxes, present participle climaxing, simple past and past participle climaxed)
- To reach or bring to a climax
- 2012 May 31, Tasha Robinson, “Film: Review: Snow White And The Huntsman”:
- Huntsman starts out with a vision of Theron that’s specific, unique, and weighted in character, but it trends throughout toward generic fantasy tropes and black-and-white morality, and climaxes in a thoroughly familiar face-off.
- 2012 May 31, Tasha Robinson, “Film: Review: Snow White And The Huntsman”:
- To orgasm; to reach orgasm
External links [edit]
- climax in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
- climax in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911
