Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun The point of greatest intensity or force in an ascending series or progression; a culmination. synonym: summit.
- noun A series of statements or ideas in an ascending order of rhetorical force or intensity.
- noun The final statement in such a series.
- noun A moment of great or culminating intensity in a narrative or drama, especially the conclusion of a crisis.
- noun The turning point in a plot or dramatic action.
- noun Ecology A climax community.
- transitive & intransitive verb To bring to or reach a climax.
from The Century Dictionary.
- To reach the highest point or climax; culminate.
- noun In rhetoric, originally, such an arrangement of successive clauses that the last important word of one is repeated as the first important word of the next; accumulated epanastrophe; hence (since this arrangement is generally adopted for the sake of graduated increase in force or emphasis), a figure by which a series of clauses or phrases is so arranged that each in turn surpasses the preceding one in intensity of expression or importance of meaning. See
anticlimax . - noun In logic: A sorites, or chain of reasoning.
- noun The sophism called
sorites (which see). - noun The highest point of intensity, development, etc.; the culmination; acme: as, he was then at the climax of his fortunes.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun Upward movement; steady increase; gradation; ascent.
- noun (Rhet.) A figure in which the parts of a sentence or paragraph are so arranged that each succeeding one rises above its predecessor in impressiveness.
- noun The highest point; the greatest degree.
- noun [Colloq.] to surpass everything, as in excellence or in absurdity.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun The point of greatest
intensity or force in anascending series; aculmination - noun The
turning point in a plot or in dramatic action, especially one marking a change in theprotagonist 's affairs. - noun A stage of
ecological development in which acommunity oforganisms , is stable and capable ofperpetuating itself. - noun slang An
orgasm . - noun rhetoric : Ordering of terms in increasing order of importance or
magnitude . - noun rhetoric :
Anadiplosis . - verb To
reach orbring to a climax - verb To
orgasm ; to reachorgasm
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun the most severe stage of a disease
- noun the decisive moment in a novel or play
- noun arrangement of clauses in ascending order of forcefulness
- noun the moment of most intense pleasure in sexual intercourse
- noun the highest point of anything conceived of as growing or developing or unfolding
- verb end, especially to reach a final or climactic stage
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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The mytho-historical language virus that eats up much of the book has no bearing on the story, the big bad A-Bomb that gets mentioned repeatedly turns out to be of no concern, and the climax is a mob guy beating the bad guy with a skateboard.
Worst SF/F Book Ever 2004
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"Stop a bit, Carr; I had not come to it," interrupted Lord Hartledon, who in point of fact had been holding back what he called the climax, in his usual vacillating manner.
Elster's Folly Henry Wood 1850
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The climax is exciting, but there are quite a few holes in the plot, and of course in the interests of tension Will and Faith separately break several “detective 101” rules that any seasoned reader of crime fiction will realise way in advance mean big trouble, and so are merely irritating rather than adding to the suspense.
Book review Maxine 2009
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The climax is exciting, but there are quite a few holes in the plot, and of course in the interests of tension Will and Faith separately break several “detective 101” rules that any seasoned reader of crime fiction will realise way in advance mean big trouble, and so are merely irritating rather than adding to the suspense.
July 2009 Maxine 2009
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Wonderful fight sequences is what you expect out of a Swords & Sorcery novel and Sprunk more than delivers … Shadow's Son had me up late at night as nearly every chapter ended in climax after climax of tight action sequences to see how Caim will get out of the next scrape.
Archive 2010-05-01 Lou Anders 2010
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The climax is exciting, but there are quite a few holes in the plot, and of course in the interests of tension Will and Faith separately break several “detective 101” rules that any seasoned reader of crime fiction will realise way in advance mean big trouble, and so are merely irritating rather than adding to the suspense.
Book review: Genesis by Karin Slaughter Maxine 2009
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Wonderful fight sequences is what you expect out of a Swords & Sorcery novel and Sprunk more than delivers … Shadow's Son had me up late at night as nearly every chapter ended in climax after climax of tight action sequences to see how Caim will get out of the next scrape.
Got Sprunk? Lou Anders 2010
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The climax is exciting, but there are quite a few holes in the plot, and of course in the interests of tension Will and Faith separately break several “detective 101” rules that any seasoned reader of crime fiction will realise way in advance mean big trouble, and so are merely irritating rather than adding to the suspense.
PETRONA Maxine 2009
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A work of art can hardly be too short, for its climax is its merit.
Quoth G.K.C. superversive 2009
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The climax is exciting, but there are quite a few holes in the plot, and of course in the interests of tension Will and Faith separately break several “detective 101” rules that any seasoned reader of crime fiction will realise way in advance mean big trouble, and so are merely irritating rather than adding to the suspense.
Book review: Genesis by Karin Slaughter Maxine 2009
bilby commented on the word climax
A ghost town in Colorado, USA. There is no truth in the rumours that it was recently purchased by uselessness.
Climax was once the highest settlement in the USA. The town was effectively closed down when the molybdenum deposits were worked out.
January 1, 2008
bilby commented on the word climax
Further research shows that there are also towns named Climax in Michigan, North Carolina, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Saskatchewan and Minnesota. The last is just down the road from Fertile, MN ... hence the famous newspaper headline about a fatal car accident: "Fertile Woman Dies in Climax".
January 2, 2008
madsimian commented on the word climax
Climax is derived from the Greek word for 'ladder'. And there's more history at the OUP blog.
August 7, 2008
Prolagus commented on the word climax
And don't forget that the derived adjective is climactic!
November 3, 2008
fbharjo commented on the word climax
to be rung out?-*etymologically speaking*
*has a certain ring to it!*
January 28, 2013