Hypertext Webster Gateway: "climax"
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Climax \Cli"max\, n. [L., from Gr. ? ladder, staircase, fr. ? to
make to bend, to lean. See {Ladder}, {Lean}, v. i.]
1. Upward movement; steady increase; gradation; ascent.
--Glanvill.
2. (Rhet.) A figure in which the parts of a sentence or
paragraph are so arranged that each succeeding one rises
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.
From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)
climax
n 1: the highest point of anything conceived of as growing or
developing or unfolding: "the climax of the artist's
career"; "in the flood tide of his success" [syn: {flood
tide}]
2: the decisive moment in a novel or play; "the deathbed scene
is the climax of the play" [syn: {culmination}]
3: the moment of most intense pleasure in sexual intercourse
[syn: {orgasm}, {sexual climax}, {coming}]
4: the most severe stage of a disease
5: arrangement of clauses in ascending order of forcefulness
v : end, esp. to reach a final or climactic stage; "The meeting
culminated in a tearful embrace" [syn: {culminate}]
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