[syn: culminate, climax]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
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.
[1913 Webster]
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.
[1913 Webster]
"Tribulation worketh patience, patience experience,
and experience hope" -- a happy climax. --J. D.
Forbes.
[1913 Webster]
3. The highest point; the greatest degree.
[1913 Webster]
We must look higher for the climax of earthly good.
--I. Taylor.
[1913 Webster]
To cap the climax, to surpass everything, as in excellence
or in absurdity. [Colloq.]
[1913 Webster]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
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: climax,
flood tide]
2: the decisive moment in a novel or play; "the deathbed scene
is the climax of the play" [syn: climax, culmination]
3: the moment of most intense pleasure in sexual intercourse
[syn: orgasm, climax, sexual climax, coming]
4: the most severe stage of a disease
5: arrangement of clauses in ascending order of forcefulness
v 1: end, especially to reach a final or climactic stage; "The
meeting culminated in a tearful embrace" [syn: culminate,
climax]
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:
219 Moby Thesaurus words for "climax":
achieve satisfaction, acme, acme of perfection, act of love,
adultery, all, apex, aphrodisia, apogee, apoplexy, ass, balling,
bench mark, bitter end, breakup, brow, button up, cap, capstone,
cardinal point, carnal knowledge, carry to completion, cataclysm,
catastrophe, ceiling, chief thing, clean up, close out, close up,
cloud nine, cohabitation, coition, coitus, coitus interruptus,
come, commerce, complete, completion, conclude, conclusion,
congress, connection, consummate, consummation, content,
convulsion, copestone, copula, copulation, core, cornerstone,
coupling, crest, crisis, critical point, crossroads, crown, crux,
culmen, culminate, culmination, denouement, diastrophism, diddling,
disaster, edge, ejaculate, end, end result, essence, essential,
essential matter, extreme, extreme limit, extremity, final result,
final stroke, final touch, finale, finalize, finish, finish off,
finish up, finisher, finishing stroke, fit, fornication, frost,
fundamental, get done, get it over, get off, get through,
get through with, gist, gravamen, great point, head, heart, heaven,
heavens, height, high noon, high point, highest degree,
highest pitch, highest point, ice, important thing, intercourse,
intimacy, issue, kernel, keystone, landmark, last act, last stroke,
last touch, last word, limit, lovemaking, main point, main thing,
making it with, marital relations, marriage act, material point,
mating, maximum, meat, meridian, milestone, mop up, mountaintop,
ne plus ultra, no place higher, noon, nth degree, nub, onanism,
orgasm, outtop, overarch, overthrow, overtop, ovum, pareunia,
paroxysm, payoff, peak, perfect, perfection, pink,
pink of perfection, pinnacle, pitch, pith, pivot, please, point,
pole, procreation, quake, reach orgasm, real issue, relations,
ridge, round out, salient point, satisfy, screwing, seventh heaven,
sex, sex act, sexual climax, sexual commerce, sexual congress,
sexual intercourse, sexual relations, sexual union, sine qua non,
sky, sleeping with, spasm, sperm, spire, stroke, substance,
substantive point, summit, surmount, temblor, terminate,
termination, the bottom line, the point, the whole, tidal wave,
tip, tip-top, top, top off, top out, tsunami, turning point,
ultimate, upheaval, upmost, upper extremity, uppermost, utmost,
utmost extent, uttermost, venery, vertex, very top, wind up,
wrap up, zenith
U.S. Gazetteer Places (2000):
Climax, GA -- U.S. city in Georgia
Population (2000): 297
Housing Units (2000): 134
Land area (2000): 0.790467 sq. miles (2.047300 sq. km)
Water area (2000): 0.000000 sq. miles (0.000000 sq. km)
Total area (2000): 0.790467 sq. miles (2.047300 sq. km)
FIPS code: 16908
Located within: Georgia (GA), FIPS 13
Location: 30.877194 N, 84.431975 W
ZIP Codes (1990): 31734
Note: some ZIP codes may be omitted esp. for suburbs.
Headwords:
Climax, GA
Climax
U.S. Gazetteer Places (2000):
Climax, KS -- U.S. city in Kansas
Population (2000): 64
Housing Units (2000): 29
Land area (2000): 0.125651 sq. miles (0.325434 sq. km)
Water area (2000): 0.000000 sq. miles (0.000000 sq. km)
Total area (2000): 0.125651 sq. miles (0.325434 sq. km)
FIPS code: 14275
Located within: Kansas (KS), FIPS 20
Location: 37.720155 N, 96.223888 W
ZIP Codes (1990): 67137
Note: some ZIP codes may be omitted esp. for suburbs.
Headwords:
Climax, KS
Climax
U.S. Gazetteer Places (2000):
Climax, MI -- U.S. village in Michigan
Population (2000): 791
Housing Units (2000): 291
Land area (2000): 1.027410 sq. miles (2.660980 sq. km)
Water area (2000): 0.000000 sq. miles (0.000000 sq. km)
Total area (2000): 1.027410 sq. miles (2.660980 sq. km)
FIPS code: 16440
Located within: Michigan (MI), FIPS 26
Location: 42.237493 N, 85.336970 W
ZIP Codes (1990): 49034
Note: some ZIP codes may be omitted esp. for suburbs.
Headwords:
Climax, MI
Climax
U.S. Gazetteer Places (2000):
Climax, MN -- U.S. city in Minnesota
Population (2000): 243
Housing Units (2000): 124
Land area (2000): 1.145192 sq. miles (2.966034 sq. km)
Water area (2000): 0.000000 sq. miles (0.000000 sq. km)
Total area (2000): 1.145192 sq. miles (2.966034 sq. km)
FIPS code: 11962
Located within: Minnesota (MN), FIPS 27
Location: 47.608772 N, 96.815453 W
ZIP Codes (1990):
Note: some ZIP codes may be omitted esp. for suburbs.
Headwords:
Climax, MN
Climax