climax

Definition

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

Etymology

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

Example Sentences

• "Ye haue a figure which as well by his Greeke and Latine originals […] may be called the marching figure […] and goeth as it were by ſtrides or paces; it may aſwell by called the clyming figure, for Clymax is as much to ſay as a ladder,[…]"
• "Climax, by steps advancing, onward goes Higher and still more high to an impassion'd close."
• "[…]Expressions for the whole Climax of sensibility[…]"

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