Definify.com
Webster 1828 Edition
Anticlimax
ANTICLI'MAX
,Noun.
A sentence in which the ideas fall or become less important and striking at the close; opposed to climax. For example,
Next comes Dalhousie, the great God of war,
Lieutenant Col'nel to the Earl of Mar.
Definition 2024
anticlimax
anticlimax
See also: anticlímax and anti-climax
English
Noun
anticlimax (plural anticlimaxes)
- A failed or reverse climax, particularly:
- (literature) An unsatisfying resolution to a narrative, usually owing to a deus ex machina or similarly trivial resolution of the main conflict.
- (rhetoric) An abrupt descent (either deliberate or unintentional) from the dignity of the idea which the speaker or writer appeared to be aiming for.
Synonyms
- (partial): bathos
Antonyms
- climax
- (literary): cliffhanger
- (rhetoric): auxesis
Translations
break in the final climax
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