• enPR: klīʹ-măks IPA: /ˈklaɪmæks/

climax

1. (originally, rhetoric) A rhetorical device in which a series is arranged in ascending order.
   • [1835, L[arret] Langley, A Manual of the Figures of Rhetoric, […], Doncaster: Printed by C. White, Baxter-Gate, OCLC 1062248511 ↗, page 26 ↗:

     Climax, by steps advancing, onward goes
     Higher and still more high to an impassion'd close.]

2. (obsolete) An instance of such an ascending series.
   • 1781, John Moore, A view of society and manners in Italy, Vol. I, Ch. vi, p. 63:

     ...Expressions for the whole Climax of sensibility...

3. (now commonly) A culmination or acme: the last term in an ascending series, particularly:
   • 1789, Trifler, 448, No. XXXV:

     In the accomplishment of this, they frequently reach the climax of absurdity.

   1. (rhetoric, imprecise) The final term of a rhetorical climax.
      • 1856, Ralph Waldo Emerson, English Traits, Ch. ix, p. 147:

        When he adds epithets of praise, his climax is ‘so English’.

   2. (ecology) The culmination of ecological development, whereby species are in equilibrium with their environment.
      • 1915 July 17, Bulletin of the Illinois State Laboratory:

        The succession of associations leading to a climax represents the process of adjustment to the conditions of stress, and the climax represents a condition of relative equilibrium. Climax associations... are the resultants of certain climatic, geological... conditions.

   3. The culmination of sexual pleasure, an orgasm.
      • 1918, Marie Carmichael Stopes, Married love, 50:

        In many cases the man's climax comes so swiftly that the woman's reactions are not nearly ready.

   4. (narratology) The culmination of a narrative's rising action, the turning point.

• (rhetorical device) incrementum; (imprecise) auxesis, catacosmesis
• (culmination) See Thesaurus:apex

• (rhetorical device) catacosmesis

• climacteric

• French: climax

• French: apogée, paroxysme
• German: Höhepunkt
• Italian: eccitamento
• Portuguese: clímax
• Russian: кульмина́ция
• Spanish: clímax, colofón

• French: jouissance, orgasme
• German: Höhepunkt, Orgasmus
• Italian: orgasmo
• Portuguese: clímax, orgasmo

climax (climaxes, present participle climaxing; past and past participle climaxed)

1. (ambitransitive) To reach or bring to a climax.
2. (intransitive) To orgasm; to reach orgasm.