climax
Part of speech: noun
verb
Morphological type: simple
Topics: biology
ecology
human-sciences
linguistics
narratology
natural-sciences
sciences
Etymology: From Latin clīmax, from Ancient Greek κλῖμαξ (klîmax, “ladder, staircase, [rhetorical] climax”), from κλίνω (klínō, “to lean, slant”).
Inflected forms:
form: climaxes
pos: noun
tags: plural
form: climaces
pos: noun
tags: plural
rare
form: climaxes
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: climaxing
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: climaxed
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: climaxed
pos: verb
tags: past
Senses:
gloss: A rhetorical device in which a series is arranged in ascending order.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: 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.
gloss: An instance of such an ascending series.
pos: noun
tags: countable
obsolete
uncountable
examples: […]Expressions for the whole Climax of sensibility[…]
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!
gloss: The culmination of a narrative's rising action, the turning point.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: As a trafficker in climaxes and thrills and characterization and wonderful dialogue and suspense and confrontations, I had outlined the Dresden story many times.
gloss: A culmination or acme: the last term in an ascending series, particularly
pos: noun
tags: countable
often
uncountable
examples: In the accomplishment of this, they frequently reach the climax of absurdity.
gloss: A culmination or acme: the last term in an ascending series
pos: noun
tags: countable
often
rhetoric
uncountable
examples: When he adds epithets of praise, his climax is ‘so English’.
gloss: A culmination or acme: the last term in an ascending series
pos: noun
tags: countable
often
uncountable
examples: 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.
gloss: A culmination or acme: the last term in an ascending series
pos: noun
tags: countable
euphemistic
often
uncountable
examples: In many cases the man's climax comes so swiftly that the woman's reactions are not nearly ready.
What's the use of bringing some high schooler to climax?
gloss: To reach or bring to a climax (in any sense).
pos: verb
tags: ambitransitive
examples: 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.
I have never been able to climax during sex. Is my masturbation style to blame? [title]
gloss: To form the climax to; to be the climax of.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: 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.
Synonyms: auxesis
catacosmesis
apex
Antonyms: catacosmesis
Related words: climacteric
anadiplosis
Derived words: anticlimax
climactic
climax community
climaxless
disclimax
microclimax
miniclimax
monoclimax
nonclimax
plagioclimax
polyclimax
postclimax
preclimax
sexual climax
climaxer
Translations: