climax
Americannoun
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the highest or most intense point in the development or resolution of something; culmination.
His career reached its climax when he was elected president.
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(in a dramatic or literary work) a decisive moment that is of maximum intensity or is a major turning point in a plot.
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Rhetoric.
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a figure consisting of a series of related ideas so arranged that each surpasses the preceding in force or intensity.
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the last term or member of this figure.
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an orgasm.
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Ecology. the stable and self-perpetuating end stage in the ecological succession or evolution of a plant and animal community.
verb (used with or without object)
noun
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the most intense or highest point of an experience or of a series of events
the party was the climax of the week
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a decisive moment in a dramatic or other work
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a rhetorical device by which a series of sentences, clauses, or phrases are arranged in order of increasing intensity
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ecology the stage in the development of a community during which it remains stable under the prevailing environmental conditions
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Also called: sexual climax. (esp in referring to women) another word for orgasm
verb
Usage
What does climax mean? A climax is the most intense, decisive point of something, especially in a story or film.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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climaxsimple
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climaxessimple
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have climaxedperfect
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has climaxedperfect
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am climaxingprogressive
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are climaxingprogressive
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is climaxingprogressive
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have been climaxingperfect progressive
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has been climaxingperfect progressive
Past
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climaxedsimple
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had climaxedperfect
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was climaxingprogressive
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were climaxingprogressive
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had been climaxingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of climax
First recorded in 1580–90; from Late Latin, from Greek klîmax “ladder,” akin to klī́nein “to lean”
Explanation
When something — like a movie or piece of music — reaches its most important or exciting part, that's the climax. A climax is a high point. When you're on a roller coaster and you reach the highest point, that's the climax of the ride. This word is also used often in art and entertainment. In an adventure movie, there's usually a moment near the end when there's a lot of danger, suspense, and action — a point the whole movie has been building towards. That's the climax. After a climax, tension is released and things calm down. After a climax, you probably want to say "Whew!"
Vocabulary lists containing climax
TEKS ELAR Academic Vocabulary List (5th-7th grades)
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AP English Lit exam terms
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Rhetoric
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
The film is, then, a fairly standard underdog-makes-good story, rising to a climax in the French and Indian War in the 1750s, when Washington was in his 20s.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 2, 2026
“If the broadening out is making a sustainable comeback, this price momentum in semis stocks likely needs to reach a climax, and it appears that may be happening, on schedule,” Wilson says.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 29, 2026
Anderson's attitude and determination stood out as he excelled at Bristol Rovers - ending in a dramatic climax to the season.
From BBC ● Jun. 23, 2026
The emotional climax of the book is when the Beatles, isolated from the outside world in Wales at Maharishi Mahesh Yogi’s meditation retreat, learn of their beloved manager’s death.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 12, 2026
News of Booth’s death traveled across the nation by telegraph, and newspapers rushed to print stories filled with the details of the manhunt’s climax at Garrett’s farm.
From "Chasing Lincoln's Killer" by James L. Swanson
Mr. Day’s lushly orchestrated score, sweetly tonal throughout and full of harp riffs, is paced with a mellow sameness that even the frequent big climaxes can’t jolt into dramatic excitement or dangerous energy.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 13, 2026
Famously, in one of the most extraordinary championship climaxes in F1 history, Ferrari messed up their strategy and opened the door to Vettel to win his first title.
From BBC ● Nov. 30, 2025
Some of the best popcorn movie climaxes are built around less.
From Salon ● Feb. 20, 2025
But Jacobs expertly handles ear-crushing climaxes as well as it does a lullaby.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 19, 2024
As a trafficker in climaxes and thrills and characterization and wonderful dialogue and suspense and confrontations, I had outlined the Dresden story many times.
From "Slaughterhouse-Five" by Kurt Vonnegut
Kino’s hypocrisy stems from the same swamp as the original’s fictitious Dr. Gröss, whose lurid footage climaxed with a tsk-tsking screed against poverty, pollution and fascism as major contributors to the global death toll.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 9, 2026
Roger Paterson presented his footage to America in a traveling show that crisscrossed the nation and climaxed with the hyped Bigfoot sequence on screen.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 12, 2026
But Marcus Tavernier's 69th minute penalty, awarded for Max Kilman's handball, sparked a Bournemouth fightback that climaxed with Enes Unal's 81st minute equaliser.
From Barron's ● Nov. 22, 2025
It climaxed with Chalamet’s sheltered scion, Paul Atreides, abducted from his family’s spice-mining compound and left to die in the scorching Arrakis desert, patrolled by fanged sandworms the size of the Empire State Building.
From New York Times ● Feb. 21, 2024
The debate over Lawrence’s future at Berkeley climaxed at an acrimonious faculty conclave pitting the hard sciences, represented by Birge and Lewis, against the humanities and social sciences departments.
From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik
Seven stakes are for 2-year-olds, climaxing with the $50,000 Gottstein Futurity at a mile and 70 yards on closing day.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 6, 2024
But the escalating silliness of her response, climaxing as the queen and princess traded barbs over the clutched dagger until Alicent finally drew blood, tipped the drama into farce.
From New York Times ● Oct. 2, 2022
"The Expanse" maintains the poetry in its scripts and plotting even as the last episodes wrap up too neatly, climaxing by solving of an impossible conundrum with a strategy that strains credibility.
From Salon ● Dec. 11, 2021
Both couples married, and their musical nuances multiplied, climaxing in 1980’s anguished “The Winner Takes It All” just as Fältskog and Ulvaeus finalized their split; the next year, Lyngstad and Andersson divorced as well.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 4, 2021
The conference unanimously voted to initiate a massive countrywide antipass campaign beginning March 31 and climaxing on June 26 with a great bonfire of passes.
From "Long Walk to Freedom" by Nelson Mandela
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
