climaxes

Noun

climax (countable and uncountable, plural climaxes or (rare) climaces)

1. A rhetorical device in which a series is arranged in ascending order.
   • 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,[…]1589 June, George Puttenham, chapter 19, in Edward Arber, editor, The Arte of English Poesie, volume 3, London, published 1869, page 217

   Synonyms:

   incrementum

2. (obsolete) An instance of such an ascending series.
   • […]Expressions for the whole Climax of sensibility[…]1781, John Moore, chapter VI, in A view of society and manners in Italy, volume I, page 63
3. The culmination of a narrative's rising action, the turning point.
   • As a trafficker in climaxes and thrills and characterization and wonderful dialogue and suspense and confrontations, I had outlined the Dresden story many times.1969 March 31, Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., chapter 1, in Slaughterhouse-Five […] (A Seymour Lawrence Book), New York, N.Y.: Delacorte Press, →OCLC, page 4

   Synonyms:

   payoff

4. (often) A culmination or acme: the last term in an ascending series, particularly
   • In the accomplishment of this, they frequently reach the climax of absurdity.1789, Trifler, 448, No. XXXV
5. (often, rhetoric, imprecise) The final term of a rhetorical climax.
   • When he adds epithets of praise, his climax is ‘so English’.1856, Ralph Waldo Emerson, chapter IX, in English Traits, page 147
6. (often) A relatively stable community of organisms, resulting from ecological succession, a successful adaptation to a relatively stable environment.
   • Near-synonyms: old-growth, mature ecosystem

   Synonyms:

   old-growth, mature ecosystem

See all 24 meanings of climax