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Definition of climax noun from the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary

climax

noun
 
/ˈklaɪmæks/
 
/ˈklaɪmæks/
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  1. the most exciting or important event or point in time
    • to come to/reach a climax
    • Signing the peace agreement was the climax of his political career.
    • The team’s 3–1 victory in the final provided a fitting climax to a great season.
    Extra Examples
    • In a dramatic climax, our team lost by one goal.
    • The affair was brought to a climax when the chairman resigned.
    • The crisis reached its climax in the 1990s.
    • Yesterday marked the climax of the celebrations.
    Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective
    • big
    • dramatic
    • exciting
    verb + climax
    • come to
    • hit
    • reach
    climax + verb
    • come
    preposition
    • at the climax
    • in a/​the climax
    • climax to
    See full entry
  2. the 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.
    Extra Examples
    • The climax came at the end of the second act of the play.
    • The hero dies at the climax of the opera.
    • The story gradually builds to a powerful climax.
    • The story builds up to a powerful climax with the murder of Nancy by her lover Bill Sikes.
    Topics Film and theatrec1, Musicc1
    Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective
    • big
    • dramatic
    • exciting
    verb + climax
    • come to
    • hit
    • reach
    climax + verb
    • come
    preposition
    • at the climax
    • in a/​the climax
    • climax to
    See full entry
  3. the highest point of sexual pleasure
    • She found it hard to achieve a/reach climax.
    synonym orgasm
    Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective
    • sexual
    verb + climax
    • achieve
    • reach
    See full entry
  4. 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.
See climax in the Oxford Advanced American Dictionary

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