anticlimax

See also: anticlímax and anti-climax

English

Alternative forms

• anti-climax

Etymology

From anti- +‎ climax.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈan.tiˌklaɪ.mæks/, [ˈa.ɾ̃iˌklaɪ.mæks]

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aɪmæks

Noun

anticlimax (countable and uncountable, plural anticlimaxes)

1. A failed or reverse climax, particularly:
   • 1935 September 18, “The Two Dromios, Jim and Jouette”, in Columbia Daily Tribune, volume XXXV, number 5, Columbia, Mo., page six, column 1:

     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.

   • 2009, Konstantin Dierks, “Revolution and War”, in In My Power: Letter Writing and Communications in Early America, Philadelphia, Pa.: University of Pennsylvania Press, →ISBN, page 225:

     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.”

   1. (narratology) An unsatisfying resolution to a narrative, usually owing to a deus ex machina or similarly trivial resolution of the main conflict.
   2. (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
• (antonym(s) of “literary”): cliffhanger
• (antonym(s) of “rhetoric”): auxesis

Related terms

• anticlimactic

Translations

break in the final climax

• Afrikaans: antiklimaks
• Albanian: antiklimaks
• Amharic: አንቲክሊማክስ (ʾäntiklimaks)
• Arabic: ^{(please verify)} أنتيليماكس (ʔantilimaks)
• Armenian: հակակլիմաքս (hy) (hakaklimakʻs)
• Assamese: এন্টিক্লাইমেক্স (entiklaimekso)
• Azerbaijani: antiklimaks
• Basque: antiklimax
• Belarusian: антыклімакс (antyklimaks)
• Bengali: অ্যান্টিক্লাইম্যাক্স (ênṭiklaimêks)
• Bulgarian: антиклимакс (antiklimaks)
• Catalan: anticlímax m
• Cebuano: antiklimaks
• Corsican: anticlímax
• Czech: antiklimax
• Danish: antiklimaks n
• Dhivehi: އެންޓިކްލައިމެކްސް (en̊ṭik̊laimek̊s)
• Dogri: एंटीक्लाइमेक्स (eṇṭīklāimeks)
• Dutch: anticlimax (nl)
• Esperanto: antiklimakso
• Estonian: antikliimax
• Finnish: antikliimaksi
• Galician: anticlímax
• Georgian: ანტიკლიმაქსი (anṭiḳlimaksi)
• German: antiklimax
• Greek: γελοία κατάπτωση (geloía katáptosi), απροσδόκητη κατάπτωση (aprosdókiti katáptosi)
• Gujarati: એન્ટિક્લાઈમેક્સ (enṭiklāīmeks)
• Haitian Creole: antiklimaks
• Hindi: एंटीक्लाइमेक्स (eṇṭīklāimeks)
• Hungarian: antiklimax
• Icelandic: antiklimax
• Indonesian: antiklimaks (id)
• Irish: frithbhuaic f, frithdhígeann m
• Japanese: 竜頭蛇尾 (ja) (ryūtōdabi)
• Javanese: antiklimaks
• Kannada: ಆಂಟಿಕ್ಲೈಮ್ಯಾಕ್ಸ್ (āṇṭiklaimyāks)
• Kazakh: антиклимакс (antiklimaks)
• Korean: 용두사미 (yongdusami)
• Krio: antiklimaks we dɛn kɔl
• Kyrgyz: антиклимакс (antiklimaks)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: antiklimaks n or m

  Nynorsk: antiklimaks n or m

• Portuguese: anticlímax (pt) m
• Spanish: anticlímax (es) m
• Tagalog: gantinsukdol

in narration

• Polish: antygradacja f, antyklimaks m

rhetoric

• Polish: antygradacja f, antyklimaks m

See also

• underwhelm

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French anticlimax.

Noun

anticlimax n (plural anticlimaxe)

1. anticlimax

Declension

	singular			plural
	indefinite	definite		indefinite	definite
nominative-accusative	anticlimax	anticlimaxul		anticlimaxe	anticlimaxele
genitive-dative	anticlimax	anticlimaxului		anticlimaxe	anticlimaxelor
vocative	anticlimaxule			anticlimaxelor