Climax

[klahy-maks] /ˈklaɪ mæks/

noun
1.
the highest or most intense point in the development or resolution of something; culmination:
His career reached its climax when he was elected president.
2.
(in a dramatic or literary work) a decisive moment that is of maximum intensity or is a major turning point in a plot.
3.
Rhetoric.

4.
an orgasm.
5.
Ecology. the stable and self-perpetuating end stage in the ecological succession or evolution of a plant and animal community.
verb (used with or without object)
6.
to bring to or reach a climax.
/ˈklaɪmæks/
noun
1.
the most intense or highest point of an experience or of a series of events: the party was the climax of the week
2.
a decisive moment in a dramatic or other work
3.
a rhetorical device by which a series of sentences, clauses, or phrases are arranged in order of increasing intensity
4.
(ecology) the stage in the development of a community during which it remains stable under the prevailing environmental conditions
5.
Also called sexual climax (esp in referring to women) another word for orgasm
verb
6.
to reach or bring to a climax
n.

1580s, in the rhetorical sense (a chain of reasoning in graduating steps from weaker to stronger), from Late Latin climax (genitive climacis), from Greek klimax “propositions rising in effectiveness,” literally “ladder,” from root of klinein “to slope,” from PIE root *klei- “to lean” (see lean (v.)).

The rhetorical meaning evolved in English through “series of steps by which a goal is achieved,” to “escalating steps,” to (1789) “high point of intensity or development,” a usage credited by the OED to “popular ignorance.” The meaning “sexual orgasm” is recorded by 1880 (also in terms such as climax of orgasm), said to have been promoted from c.1900 by birth-control pioneer Marie Stopes (1880-1958) and others as a more accessible word than orgasm (n.).
v.

1835, “to reach the highest point,” from climax (n.). Related: Climaxed; climaxing.

climax cli·max (klī’māks’)
n.