anticlimax
/ˈæn.tiˌklaɪ.mæks/
"anticlimax" is a 10-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“anticlimax” is uncommon English (frequency #90,143 among 3,931 “A” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #90,143
- frequency rank, English
- 3,931
- “A” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A failed or reverse climax, particularly
Corpus desk
Index EN-anticlimax · anticlimax · English
anticlimax · rank #90,143 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #90,143
- LEN-MEGA 10 letters
- VOW-4 4 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 3,931
- PHOTO-FINISH antiphon
Nearest frequency peer: antiphon (+1 rank slots)
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
Long-tail ranks near “anticlimax”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- Anscombe
Anscombe
9,863 corpus weight
- Ansley
Ansley
9,862 corpus weight
- anticlimax
anticlimax
9,858 corpus weight
- antiphon
antiphon
9,857 corpus weight
- Aoun
Aoun
9,855 corpus weight
- APGAR
APGAR
9,854 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “anticlimax” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | anticlimax |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈæn.tiˌklaɪ.mæks/ |
| Letters | 10 |
| Frequency rank | #90,143 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “anticlimax” in English
Rare enough to double-check
anticlimax is uncommon English at frequency #90,143 among 3,931 “A” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈæn.tiˌklaɪ.mæks/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.
The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for anticlimax, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable English rules. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.
Etymologically, the entry records: From anti- + climax. The correct English form is anticlimax, spelled A-N-T-I-C-L-I-M-A-X.
Definition
- 1A failed or reverse climax, particularly
- 2A failed or reverse climax
- 3A failed or reverse climax
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how anticlimax appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Reed, Superba of yore, made a gallant effort to summon the Promethean fire that once burned within him when it was his “listening senates to command,” but his vaunted perorations proved anticlimaces and his oratory a flop.
If the siege of Boston seemed to end in anticlimax, with the sudden retreat of British military forces, the siege of New York City seen from the inside, from under siege, seemed infinitely more portentous: “The Day is Come that in all Probility on which Depends the Salvation of this Countery.”
Etymology
From anti- + climax.
Synonyms
Antonyms
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "anticlimax", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 10 letters (nearest by frequency rank).