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Climax

//ˈklaɪ.mæks// name, noun, verb

Definitions

Proper Noun
  1. 1
    A village in the Rural Municipality of Lone Tree No. 18, Saskatchewan, Canada.
  2. 2
    A number of places in the United States:; An unincorporated community and mining location in Lake County, Colorado.
  3. 3
    A number of places in the United States:; A small town in Decatur County, Georgia.
  4. 4
    A number of places in the United States:; A minor city in Greenwood County, Kansas.
  5. 5
    A number of places in the United States:; An unincorporated community in Rockcastle County, Kentucky.
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  1. 6
    A number of places in the United States:; A village and township in Kalamazoo County, Michigan.
  2. 7
    A number of places in the United States:; A minor city in Polk County, Minnesota.
  3. 8
    A number of places in the United States:; A hamlet in Greene County, New York.
  4. 9
    A number of places in the United States:; An unincorporated community in Guilford County and Randolph County, North Carolina.
  5. 10
    A number of places in the United States:; An unincorporated community in Morrow County, Ohio.
  6. 11
    A number of places in the United States:; An unincorporated community in Jackson County, Oregon.
  7. 12
    A number of places in the United States:; An unincorporated community in Armstrong County, Pennsylvania.
  8. 13
    A number of places in the United States:; An unincorporated community in Collin County, Texas.
  9. 14
    A number of places in the United States:; An unincorporated community in Pittsylvania County, Virginia.
Noun
  1. 1
    A rhetorical device in which a series is arranged in ascending order. countable, uncountable

    "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,[…]"

  2. 2
    the moment of most intense pleasure in sexual intercourse wordnet
  3. 3
    An instance of such an ascending series. countable, obsolete, uncountable

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

  4. 4
    the decisive moment in a novel or play wordnet
  5. 5
    The culmination of a narrative's rising action, the turning point. countable, uncountable

    "As a trafficker in climaxes and thrills and characterization and wonderful dialogue and suspense and confrontations, I had outlined the Dresden story many times."

Show 7 more definitions
  1. 6
    arrangement of clauses in ascending order of forcefulness wordnet
  2. 7
    A culmination or acme: the last term in an ascending series, particularly countable, often, uncountable

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

  3. 8
    the highest point of anything conceived of as growing or developing or unfolding wordnet
  4. 9
    A culmination or acme: the last term in an ascending series; The final term of a rhetorical climax. countable, often, rhetoric, uncountable

    "When he adds epithets of praise, his climax is ‘so English’."

  5. 10
    the most severe stage of a disease wordnet
  6. 11
    A culmination or acme: the last term in an ascending series; The culmination of ecological development, whereby species are in equilibrium with their environment. countable, often, uncountable

    "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."

  7. 12
    A culmination or acme: the last term in an ascending series; The culmination of sexual pleasure, an orgasm. countable, euphemistic, often, uncountable

    "In many cases the man's climax comes so swiftly that the woman's reactions are not nearly ready."

Verb
  1. 1
    To reach or bring to a climax (in any sense). ambitransitive

    "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."

  2. 2
    end, especially to reach a final or climactic stage wordnet
  3. 3
    To form the climax to; to be the climax of.

    "A group of about 50 people, mostly young adults and teenagers, charged into a city park where gay people were having a swimming party on June 8. Gay people were attacked, climaxing a year in which this conservative Ohio city [Cincinnati] has become aware of its gay population."

Etymology

Etymology 1

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

Etymology 2

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

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