climax

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“
Need I say that such a climax will be worth while And now, as the climax is the scene toward which every moment of the playlet--from the first word of the introduction and the first scene-statement of the playlet's problem--has been motivated, and toward which it has risen and culminated, so also the climax holds within itself the elements from which develops the ending 3.

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Definitions (21)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (8)

  1. noun The point of greatest intensity or force in an ascending series or progression; a culmination. See Synonyms at summit.
  2. noun A series of statements or ideas in an ascending order of rhetorical force or intensity.
  3. noun The final statement in such a series.
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Examples (50)

  • When the climax was almost upon her, when she thought she was surely going to die from the incredible pressure building inside her, she clung to her husband and cried out his name. —  Garwood, Julie - The Bride
  • There is no big fight scene in New Moon the book - the climax is an emotional one. —  Entertainment Weekly's Hollywood Insider
  • Sofía at October 1, 2008 2: 17 PM is it just me, or does anybody else dislike movies where the climax is already known because of .... oh, I don't know ... history? —  Pajiba
  • The story opens interestingly but the climax is a surprise turning the film into the run of the mill masala kind. —  Bollywood Entertainment News | India
  • Below is Kevin Costner as Jim Garrison in JFK, and the climax is the speech. —  haha.nu
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climax:   climaxes ·  climaxed
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (3)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Latin clīmax, rhetorical climax, from Greek klīmax, ladder; see klei- in Indo-European roots.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (2)

  1. = French climax, etc., from Late Latin climax, a climax, from Greek κλῑμαξς, a ladder, a staircase, a climax in rhetoric, from κλίνειν, slope: see cline. Cf. climacter and climate. The English word ladder is from the same ult. root.
  2. from climax, n.
 

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/ˈklaɪmæks/
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