climactic
Americanadjective
adjective
Usage
What’s the difference between climactic and climatic? Climactic is used to describe things that involve or feel like a climax—the culmination or most intense part of a story or situation. Climatic means relating to climate—the average atmospheric conditions that prevail in a given region over a long period of time—whether a place is generally cold and wet or hot and dry, for example.Climactic is used in situations in which a peak of some kind is being reached, such as a climactic ending of a movie. The word anticlimactic is used—perhaps more commonly—to mean the opposite, such as when you expect something exciting to happen but it doesn’t.Climatic is not all that commonly used, especially because it has a much more narrow meaning. It’s typically used in scientific contexts involving climate and weather.You can keep their spellings straight by remembering that climactic comes from climax, so it needs that c in replacement of the x before the ending -tic. Climatic, on the other hand, is basically climate plus the -ic ending (with the e having been dropped).Here’s an example of climactic and climatic used correctly in a sentence.Example: Many people have failed to recognize the danger of the change in climatic conditions because the change has been a relatively gradual one, rather than a dramatic, climactic spike—but that may soon change.Want to learn more? Read the full breakdown of the difference between climactic and climatic.
Other Word Forms
- climactically adverb
- nonclimactic adjective
- nonclimactical adjective
- unclimactic adjective
Etymology
Origin of climactic
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.
And indeed, there will be, leading to a climactic scene I don’t suppose was meant to make me laugh, but did, magnifying as it does one of the confrontational cliches of modern cinema.
From Los Angeles Times
The storm, which the government described as an "extreme climactic event", left schools shuttered, buildings damaged and travel severely disrupted.
From BBC
When he failed to show up for the film's climactic reunion, the rest of the band reacted with a mixture of hurt and total lack of surprise.
From BBC
Red herrings pop up and disappear, a climactic series of revelations indicates hidden villainy, and every detail feels ho-hum.
The climactic battle has the impact of a meaningless bar fight rather than an epic civilizational clash.
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.
