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climax

/ˈklaɪ.mæks/noun, verb, adjective

climax is spelled C-L-I-M-A-X: 6 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 4.0 times per million words in written English, the 12,940th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, climax means “A rhetorical device in which a series is arranged in ascending order” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of climax is climaxes; Wiktionary also lists climaces (rare).

How many letters and syllables are in climax?

Letters6: C-L-I-M-A-X
Syllables2 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing4.0 times per million words; the 12,940th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How common is climax?

Climax appears 4.0 times per million words in written English, the 12,940th most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce climax?

  • /ˈklaɪ.mæks/

Climax has 2 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-climax.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Forms of climax

  • climaxes plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • climaces plural, rare
  • climaxing participle, present
  • climaxed participle, past
  • more climax comparative
  • most climax superlative

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does climax mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

noun

  1. 1

    A rhetorical device in which a series is arranged in ascending order.

  2. 2

    obsoleteAn instance of such an ascending series.

  3. 3

    The culmination of a narrative's rising action, the turning point.

  4. 4

    A culmination or acme: the last term in an ascending series, particularly

  5. 5

    The final term of a rhetorical climax.

  6. 6

    A relatively stable community of organisms, resulting from ecological succession, a successful adaptation to a relatively stable environment.

    Near-synonyms: old-growth, mature ecosystem

  7. 7

    The culmination of sexual pleasure, an orgasm.

verb

  1. 1

    To reach or bring to a climax (in any sense).

  2. 2

    To form the climax to; to be the climax of.

adjective

  1. 1

    Being a climax species or climax community of organisms; able to remain essentially unchanged (in terms of the portion of the species in its area it constitutes) as long as its site remains unchanged.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Climax in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchclimax (rhetoric: ordering of terms in increasing order…), apogée, paroxysme (point of greatest intensity or force), jouissance, orgasme (orgasm)
GermanHöhepunkt (point of greatest intensity or force), Orgasmus (orgasm)
Portugueseclímax (point of greatest intensity or force), orgasmo (orgasm)
Spanishclímax, colofón (point of greatest intensity or force), orgasmo (orgasm)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does climax come from?

From Latin clīmax, from Ancient Greek κλῖμαξ (klîmax, “ladder, staircase, [rhetorical] climax”), from κλίνω (klínō, “to lean, slant”).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

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