climax

UK: /ˈklaɪmæks/ US: /ˈklaɪmæks/ ,(klī′maks)

WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2025

cli•max /ˈklaɪmæks/   n. [countable]

1. the most intense point in the development of something;
   culmination:
   Being elected president was the climax of his career.
2. Literature (in a literary work) the decisive moment in a plot:
   The climax of the play is the murder of the hero.
3. an orgasm.

v. 

4. to bring to or reach a climax: [no object]
   The play climaxes early.
   [~ + object]
   The election victory climaxed a long career in politics.

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2025

cli•max  (klī′maks), n. 

1. the highest or most intense point in the development or resolution of something;
   culmination:
   His career reached its climax when he was elected president.
2. (in a dramatic or literary work) a decisive moment that is of maximum intensity or is a major turning point in a plot.
3. Rhetoric
   • a figure consisting of a series of related ideas so arranged that each surpasses the preceding in force or intensity.
   • the last term or member of this figure.
4. an orgasm.
5. Ecology the stable and self-perpetuating end stage in the ecological succession or evolution of a plant and animal community.

v.t., v.i. 

6. to bring to or reach a climax.

• Greek klîmax ladder, akin to klí̄nein to lean
• Late Latin
• 1580–90

Synonyms

• 1. summit, zenith, acme, apex.

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::

climax / ˈklaɪmæks/ noun

1. the most intense or highest point of an experience or of a series of events: the party was the climax of the week
2. a decisive moment in a dramatic or other work
3. a rhetorical device by which a series of sentences, clauses, or phrases are arranged in order of increasing intensity
4. the stage in the development of a community during which it remains stable under the prevailing environmental conditions
5. Also called: sexual climax
   another word for orgasm

verb

1. to reach or bring to a climax

Etymology: 16th Century: from Late Latin, from Greek klimax ladder