Climax
['klaɪmæks]
Definition
(noun.) the decisive moment in a novel or play; 'the deathbed scene is the climax of the play'.
(noun.) arrangement of clauses in ascending order of forcefulness.
(noun.) the highest point of anything conceived of as growing or developing or unfolding; 'the climax of the artist's career'; 'in the flood tide of his success'.
(noun.) the most severe stage of a disease.
Editor: Melinda--From WordNet
Definition
(v. i.) Upward movement; steady increase; gradation; ascent.
(v. i.) A figure in which the parts of a sentence or paragraph are so arranged that each succeeding one rises above its predecessor in impressiveness.
(v. i.) The highest point; the greatest degree.
Typed by Blanche
Synonyms and Synonymous
n. [1]. (Rhet.) Gradation (in the structure of sentences), gradual rise.[2]. Highest point, greatest degree.
Editor: Rochelle
Synonyms and Antonyms
SYN:Summit, height, consummation, acme, point, head, mered, ian, culmination,zenith
ANT:Base, floor, bathos, anticlimax, depth, gulf, nadir
Editor: Shelton
Definition
n. (rhet.) the arranging of the particulars of a portion of a discourse so as to rise in strength to the last: the last term of the rhetorical arrangement: a culmination.—v.i. to ascend in a climax: to culminate.—adjs. Climact′ic -al pertaining to a climax.—adv. Climact′ically.
Editor: Manuel
Examples
- He went on to Persepolis, where, as the climax of a drunken carouse, he burnt down the great palace of the king of kings. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- Indeed, the period seems a grand climax of discovery, rather than an increment of growth. Edward W. Byrn. The Progress of Invention in the Nineteenth Century.
- For some minutes we both paused on this climax. Charlotte Bronte. Villette.
- We are too apt to consider the career of Alexander as the crown of some process that had long been afoot; as the climax of a crescendo. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- Distress reached its climax. Charlotte Bronte. Shirley.
- Being heated when he arrived at this climax, Josiah Bounderby of Coketown stopped. Charles Dickens. Hard Times.
- Caillaux, the minister of finance, brought these to a climax in March; Britain, all Germany was assured, was on the verge of a civil war in Ireland. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
Typist: Shane