climax
See also: clímax
English
Etymology
From Latin clīmax, from Ancient Greek κλῖμαξ (klîmax, “ladder, staircase, [rhetorical] climax”), from κλίνω (klínō, “I lean, slant”).
Pronunciation
Noun
climax (countable and uncountable, plural climaxes)
- (originally rhetoric) A rhetorical device in which a series is arranged in ascending order.
- (obsolete) An instance of such an ascending series.
- 1781, John Moore, A view of society and manners in Italy, Vol. I, Ch. vi, p. 63:
- ...Expressions for the whole Climax of sensibility...
- 1788 June, Richard Brinsley Sheridan, “Mr. Sheridan’s Speech, on Summing Up the Evidence on the Second, or Begum Charge against Warren Hastings, Esq., Delivered before the High Court of Parliament, June 1788”, in Select Speeches, Forensick and Parliamentary, with Prefatory Remarks by N[athaniel] Chapman, M.D., volume I, [Philadelphia, Pa.]: Published by Hopkins and Earle, no. 170, Market Street, published 1808, →OCLC, page 474:
- The Begums' ministers, on the contrary, to extort from them the disclosure of the place which concealed the treasures, were, […] after being fettered and imprisoned, led out on to a scaffold, and this array of terrours proving unavailing, the meek tempered Middleton, as a dernier resort, menaced them with a confinement in the fortress of Chunargar. Thus, my lords, was a British garrison made the climax of cruelties!
- 1781, John Moore, A view of society and manners in Italy, Vol. I, Ch. vi, p. 63:
- (now often) A culmination or acme: the last term in an ascending series, particularly:
- 1789, Trifler, 448, No. XXXV:
- In the accomplishment of this, they frequently reach the climax of absurdity.
- (rhetoric, imprecise) The final term of a rhetorical climax.
- 1856, Ralph Waldo Emerson, English Traits, Ch. ix, p. 147:
- When he adds epithets of praise, his climax is ‘so English’.
- 1856, Ralph Waldo Emerson, English Traits, Ch. ix, p. 147:
- (ecology) The culmination of ecological development, whereby species are in equilibrium with their environment.
- 1915 July 17, Bulletin of the Illinois State Laboratory:
- The succession of associations leading to a climax represents the process of adjustment to the conditions of stress, and the climax represents a condition of relative equilibrium. Climax associations... are the resultants of certain climatic, geological... conditions.
- 1915 July 17, Bulletin of the Illinois State Laboratory:
- The culmination of sexual pleasure, an orgasm.
- 1918, Marie Carmichael Stopes, Married love, 50:
- In many cases the man's climax comes so swiftly that the woman's reactions are not nearly ready.
- 1918, Marie Carmichael Stopes, Married love, 50:
- (narratology) The culmination of a narrative's rising action, the turning point.
- 1789, Trifler, 448, No. XXXV:
Synonyms
- (rhetorical device): incrementum; (imprecise): auxesis, catacosmesis
- (culmination): See Thesaurus:apex
Antonyms
- (rhetorical device): catacosmesis
Derived terms
Related terms
Translations
rhetoric: ordering of terms in increasing order of importance or magnitude
|
point of greatest intensity or force
|
turning point in a plot or dramatic action
|
ecology: stage in ecological development
|
the peak of sexual pleasure — see orgasm
orgasm
|
See also
Verb
Lua error in Module:en-headword at line 1146: Legacy parameter 1=es/ies/d no longer supported, just use 'en-verb' without params
- (transitive, intransitive) To reach or bring to a climax.
- 2012 May 31, Tasha Robinson, “Film: Review: Snow White And The Huntsman”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name)[1]:
- 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.
- (intransitive) To orgasm; to reach orgasm.
Further reading
- “climax”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
- “climax”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
French
Pronunciation
Audio (file)
Noun
climax m (uncountable)
- climax (all senses)
Derived terms
Spanish
Noun
climax m (plural climax)
Categories:
- English terms derived from Latin
- English terms borrowed from Ancient Greek
- English terms derived from Ancient Greek
- English 2-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio links
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English uncountable nouns
- English countable nouns
- en:Rhetoric
- English terms with obsolete senses
- English terms with quotations
- en:Ecology
- en:Narratology
- English transitive verbs
- English intransitive verbs
- French terms with audio links
- French lemmas
- French nouns
- French uncountable nouns
- French masculine nouns
- Spanish lemmas
- Spanish nouns
- Spanish countable nouns
- Spanish masculine nouns