- 1the most exciting or important event or point in time to come to/reach a climax the climax of his political career The team’s 3–1 victory in the final provided a fitting climax to a great season. Oxford Collocations Dictionary adjectivebig, dramatic, exciting, … verb + climaxcome to, hit, reach, … climax + verbcome prepositionat the climax, in a/the climax, climax to, … See full entry
- 2the most exciting part of a play, piece of music, etc. that usually happens near the end The book’s powerful climax is the murder of Nancy by her lover Bill Sikes. Oxford Collocations Dictionary adjectivebig, dramatic, exciting, … verb + climaxcome to, hit, reach, … climax + verbcome prepositionat the climax, in a/the climax, climax to, … See full entry See related entries: Elements of a play, Describing music
- 3the highest point of sexual pleasure synonym orgasm Oxford Collocations Dictionary adjectivesexual verb + climaxachieve, reach See full entry compare anticlimax Word Originmid 16th cent. (in rhetoric): from late Latin, from Greek klimax ‘ladder, climax’. The sense ‘culmination’ arose in the late 18th cent.Extra examples In a dramatic climax, our team lost by one goal. She found it hard to achieve a/reach climax. The affair was brought to a climax when the chairman resigned. The climax came at the end of the second act of the play. The crisis reached its climax in the 1970s. The hero dies at the climax of the opera. The story gradually builds to a powerful climax. Yesterday marked the climax of the celebrations. Signing the peace agreement was the climax of his political career. The story builds up to a powerful climax with the murder of Nancy by her lover Bill Sikes. The team’s 3–1 victory in the final provided a fitting climax to a great season.
climax
nounBrE BrE//ˈklaɪmæks//; NAmE NAmE//ˈklaɪmæks//
Elements of a play, Describing musicCheck pronunciation: climax
