climax

cli-max · noun

imported

Definitions

noun

  1. 1.

    The most intense, exciting, or important point of something; the culmination.

  2. 2.

    To reach the most intense or highest point.

  3. 3.

    (literature) The turning point of highest tension in a narrative.

  4. 4.

    (ecology) The final stage of ecological succession in a community.

  5. 5.

    An orgasm.

Forms

plural: climaxes

Phrases & expressions

  • •
    reach a climax — arrive at the most intense point
  • •
    build to a climax — gradually increase in intensity
  • •
    climax community — (ecology) a stable ecological community

Related words

Antonyms: anticlimax, low point, nadir
See also: anticlimax, apex, culmination, peak
Synonyms: apex, culmination, peak, pinnacle, zenith

Etymology

From Greek "klimax" (ladder, staircase), from "klinein" (to lean, slope). Originally a rhetorical term for a series of ideas arranged in ascending order of importance, the word came to mean the highest point of such a sequence.