climax Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun the highest point of anything conceived of as growing or developing or unfolding
    flood tide.
    • the climax of the artist's career
    • in the flood tide of his success
  2. noun the decisive moment in a novel or play
    culmination.
    • the deathbed scene is the climax of the play
  3. noun the moment of most intense pleasure in sexual intercourse
    sexual climax; orgasm; coming.
  4. noun the most severe stage of a disease
  5. noun arrangement of clauses in ascending order of forcefulness
  6. verb end, especially to reach a final or climactic stage
    culminate.
    • The meeting culminated in a tearful embrace

WordNet

Cli"max noun
Etymology
L., from Gr. ladder, staircase, fr. to make to bend, to lean. See Ladder, Lean, v. i.
Definitions
  1. Upward movement; steady increase; gradation; ascent. Glanvill.
  2. (Rhet.) A figure of which the parts of a sentence or paragraph are so arranged that each sicceeding one rise above its predecessor in impressiveness.
    "Tribulation worketh patience, patience experience, and experience hope" -- a happy climax. J. D. Forbes.
  3. The highest point; the greatest degree.
    We must look higher for the climax of earthly good. I. Taylor.

Webster 1913