climax

CEFRB2

/ˈklaɪ.mæks/

noun

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    noun

    The most exciting or important point of an event or story.

  2. 02

    noun

    The highest point in a gradual process.

Examples

  • The audience sobbed throughout the climax of the movie.

  • The game came to a climax.

At a glance

Sits at B2 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
1
Citations
5
Synonyms
3

Deep Dive

noun

Extra meanings

  1. An instance of such an ascending series.

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

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

More examples

In context

  • Climax, by steps advancing, onward goes Higher and still more high to an impassion'd close.

  • 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,[…]

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

Synonyms

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

The movie's blank revealed the hero's true identity to everyone.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

noun

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