Climax

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ˈklaɪ.mæks/

Definitions

1. the peak moment of intensity in a narrative, situation, or sexual encounter where tension reaches its maximum point
2. the culminating point of greatest emotional, dramatic, or physical intensity in a sequence of events or experience
3. The stage at which something reaches its utmost intensity or development ; the concluding or most significant moment in a narrative or event

Etymology: The Greek "klimax" meant "ladder" or "staircase," and it was a rhetorical term too: a sequence of phrases built step by step, each rising in force above the last. Ancient speakers pictured an argument as a stair, with each rung higher than the one before. The root behind it is the Greek verb "klinein," meaning "to lean" or "to slant," so a ladder was, at heart, something leaning against a wall. The word passed into Latin as "climax" and reached English in its rhetorical sense, the peak of a series of rising statements. Its sense of the highest point of anything, and of the decisive moment in a story, grew out of that picture of ascent. The climb itself became the summit.

Synonyms: peak, pinnacle, crescendo, apex, summit

Antonyms: lowest point, nadir