Definition of CLIMAX

climax

Meanings

Plural: climaces, climaxes

Noun

  • the highest point of anything conceived of as growing or developing or unfolding
    • "the climax of the artist's career"
  • the decisive moment in a novel or play
    • "the deathbed scene is the climax of the play"
  • the moment of most intense pleasure in sexual intercourse
  • the most severe stage of a disease
  • arrangement of clauses in ascending order of forcefulness
  • A rhetorical device in which a series is arranged in ascending order.
  • An instance of such an ascending series.
  • The culmination of a narrative's rising action, the turning point.
  • A culmination or acme: the last term in an ascending series
  • The final term of a rhetorical climax.
  • A culmination or acme: the last term in an ascending series
  • The culmination of ecological development, whereby species are in equilibrium with their environment.
  • A culmination or acme: the last term in an ascending series
  • The culmination of sexual pleasure, an orgasm.
  • A culmination or acme: the last term in an ascending series, particularly

Verb

  • end, especially to reach a final or climactic stage
  • To reach or bring to a climax (in any sense).
  • To form the climax to; to be the climax of.

Origin / Etymology

From Latin clīmax, from Ancient Greek κλῖμαξ (klîmax, “ladder, staircase, [rhetorical] climax”), from κλίνω (klínō, “I lean, slant”).

Synonyms

apex, auxesis, catacosmesis, coming, culminate, culmination, flood tide, incrementum, orgasm, sexual climax

Antonyms

catacosmesis

Scrabble Score: 17

climax is a valid Scrabble (US) TWL word
climax is a valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
climax is a valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary

Words With Friends Score: 20

climax is a valid Words With Friends word