Contextualizebeta

climax

noun
/ˈklaɪ.mæks/

Etymology

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

  1. derived from κλῖμαξ
  2. derived from clīmax

Definitions

  1. A rhetorical device in which a series is arranged in ascending order.

    • Ye haue a figure which as well by his Greeke and Latine originals […] may be called the marching figure […] and goeth as it were by ſtrides or paces; it may aſwell by called the clyming figure, for Clymax is as much to ſay as a ladder,[…]
    • Climax, by steps advancing, onward goes Higher and still more high to an impassion'd close.

  2. An instance of such an ascending series.

    • […]Expressions for the whole Climax of sensibility[…]

  3. The culmination of a narrative's rising action, the turning point.

    • As a trafficker in climaxes and thrills and characterization and wonderful dialogue and suspense and confrontations, I had outlined the Dresden story many times.
  4. ›+ 5 more definitions

    1. A culmination or acme

      A culmination or acme: the last term in an ascending series, particularly

      • In the accomplishment of this, they frequently reach the climax of absurdity.

    2. To reach or bring to a climax (in any sense).

      • All our memories are burning in time / Like a bittersweet perfume / Can you tell me how a love that's so fine / Could have climaxed in a single afternoon?
      • 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.
      • Frank had two bouts in October of 1954, losing them both, and then climaxed his career with a 6-round decision victory over Mickey Warner on December 1, 1954.

    3. To form the climax to

      To form the climax to; to be the climax of.

    4. A village in the Rural Municipality of Lone Tree No. 18, Saskatchewan, Canada.

    5. A number of places in the United States

      A number of places in the United States:

The neighborhood

Derived

anticlimax, climactic, climax community, climaxless, disclimax, microclimax, miniclimax, monoclimax, nonclimax, plagioclimax, polyclimax, postclimax, preclimax, sexual climax, climaxer

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for climax. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA