2021-04-05
ศัพท์ น่าสับสน ชุด – A – acme & climax
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Dictionary.com
ออกเสียง acme = ‘AK-mee’
ออกเสียง climax = ‘KLAHY-maks’
Dictionary.com
ABOUT THIS WORD
What does climax mean?
A climax is the most intense, decisive point of something,
especially in a story or film.
Where does climax come from?
Content warning: this article contains language about sex.
We can ultimately thank Greek for the word climax,
which literally means “ladder.”
The word is recorded in English as early as the 1530s
and originally referred to a rhetorical device
where ideas are arranged in a way
that increase in intensity or importance.
By the 1640s, climax was referring to the culmination of something,
such as a competitionor story.
Many literature students will know climax
asthe peak or pivotal moment in plays,
as modeled by 19th-century German dramatist
Gustav Freytag in his namesake, Freytag’s pyramid.
Climax lent itself to sex by the 1870s,
used in scientific literature for the orgasm of a person.
The opposite of a climax is an anticlimax,
when something is far less important, powerful, or striking
than expected—a letdown.
How is climax used in real life?
When something is considered a climax,
it can be described as climactic.
Same goes for anticlimax (i.e., anticlimactic).
Literature teachers and students will discuss climaxes
when analyzing the plot or structureof a story.
Climax also sees frequent use in discussion of films,
Especially, their most exciting or significantparts.
At Holtzman's badass scene at the climax? Not gonna lie I literally teared up. This is the second time this happens at a badass moment.
— Alex✨ (@dirtbagboyfren) July 15, 2016
More generally,
a climax can refer to the “high point” something has built up to
(e.g., The climax of my week was the surprise office party on Friday).
Plentyof erotic novels or pornographytitles
may feature the word climax,
though climax is generally considered inoffensive.
In sexual contexts,
climax is often used as a verb for “having an orgasm.”
More examples of climax:
“The only drawbacks of the film are its noticeable tendency
to abruptly change from scene to scene for most of its run time,
although it becomes slightly better toward the end,
and a somewhat underwhelming climax
— a chase between a fearful group of humans
following the discovery of yeti existence.
Overall, the action scenes in “Smallfoot” are successful,
but the climax falls short.”
—Alex Novak, Kent Wired, September 2018
Note
This content is not meant to be a formal definitionof this term.
Rather, it is an informal summary
that seeks to provide supplemental information and context
important to know or keep in mind
about the term’s history, meaning, and usage.
Merriam-Webster Dictionary
Choose the Right Synonym for acme
SUMMIT, PEAK, PINNACLE, CLIMAX, APEX, ACME, CULMINATION
mean the highest point attained or attainable.
SUMMIT implies the topmost level attainable.
at the summit of the Victorian social scene
PEAK suggests the highest among other high points.
an artist working at the peak of her powers
PINNACLE suggests a dizzying and often insecure height.
the pinnacle of worldly success
CLIMAX implies the highest point in an ascending series.
the war was the climax to a series of hostile actions
APEX implies the point where all ascending lines converge.
the apex of Dutch culture
ACME implies a level of quality representing the perfection of a thing.
a statue that was once deemed the acme of beauty
CULMINATION suggests the outcome of a growth or developmentrepresenting an attained objective.
the culmination of years of effort
Merriam-Webster Dictionary
Choose the Right Synonym for climax
Noun
SUMMIT, PEAK, PINNACLE, CLIMAX, APEX, ACME, CULMINATION
mean the highest point attained or attainable.
SUMMIT implies the topmost level attainable.
at the summit of the Victorian social scene
PEAK suggests the highest among other high points.
an artist working at the peak of her powers
PINNACLE suggests a dizzying and often insecure height.
the pinnacle of worldly success
CLIMAX implies the highest point in an ascending series.
the war was the climax to a series of hostile actions
APEX implies the point where all ascending lines converge.
the apex of Dutch culture
ACME implies a level of quality representing the perfection of a thing.
a statue that was once deemed the acme of beauty
CULMINATION suggests the outcome of a growth or developmentrepresenting an attained objective.
the culmination of years of effort
Merriam-Webster Dictionary
acme
Did You Know?
In Greek, acme meant a mountain peak,
but in English we hardly ever use it in the physical sense.
Instead, we speak of someone's new job as the acme of her career,
or of a certain leap as the acme of classical dance technique.
In old Road Runner cartoons,
the Acme Company is the provider of every ingenious device imaginable.
But the word can't always be taken quite literally
as a brand or company name;
it's possible, for instance,
that something called the Acme Bar & Grill
may not be the absolutely highest and best example of a bar and grill.
And don'tconfuse acme with acne, the skin disorder
—even though both actually come from the same word.
Merriam-Webster Dictionary
Usage Notes
On ‘Climatic’ and ‘Climactic’
One letter makes all the difference.
What is the difference between the adjectives climatic and climactic?
Climatic means “of or relating to climate.”
It can describe things that pertain to the climate patterns
of a place or to events attributed to climate change.
Since then, a steady string of fiery, stormy, costly climatic calamities has vividly illustrated the price of unaddressed vulnerability, and fresh reports from the United Nations and independent researchers have meanwhile charted the unrelenting rise in greenhouse emissions.
— Andrew Revkin, National Geographic, 9 Jan. 2019
Angkor, one of the most significant archaeological sites in Southeast Asia, was a thriving metropolis at the center of the Khmer Empire in the 13th century. Then its inhabitants suddenly left town. Now, researchers find abrupt climatic changes and vulnerable infrastructure led to the city’s demise
— Roni Dengler, Discover, 17 Oct. 2018
Climactic means “of, relating to, or constitutinga climax.”
It describes things that amount to the high point of something
or the point of greatest tension (such as within a narrative).
From its opening scene at the John Wayne Airport to its climactic final chase alongside Long Beach’s Shoreline Drive (which doubled as the San Diego freeway in the film), Gleaming the Cube makes Orange County not only a setting in the film, but a character as well.
— Doug Jones, OC Weekly, 10 Jan. 2019
As Syria’s seven-year civil war enters a climactic phase, the Trump administration is grappling with how to address the emerging political dynamics.
— Edward Wong et al., The New York Times, 21 Sept. 2018
We also see anticlimactic as the adjectival form of anticlimax:
Then, after it was all over and Colton had picked his first impression rose and sent his first ladies home, the show was basically over and there was no actual discussion of anything at all, making it feel a little bit anticlimactic.
— Lauren Piester, E! Online, 7 Jan. 2019
Climatic and climactic might arguably fall into the category
of words you don’t even realize are two different words
until you see them printed next to each other
(or, perhaps, read an article about their usageon the internet).
One factor that causes people to overlook their distinction
might be that they share the same origin.
The nouns on which they are based,
climate and climax,both ultimately derive from
the same Greek noun, klima,
meaning “inclination, latitude, climate.”
It’s not unusual to see climatic used in instances
where “amounting to a climax” is clearly what is meant.
Nor it is strange to see the reverse.
For one thing,
climactic is more likely to occur in prose pertaining to any subject,
while climatic is (logically)
more orless restricted to science writing,
and writers whose subject is climate science
are likely to be alert to the difference.
For the most part,
confusionbetween climactic and climatic
is limited to spelling or typing and rarely reflected in speech.
Oh yeah, uh, we forgot to mention
we've been defusing a bomb this entire time!
Red wire or green wire? Which do we snip?
Phew. Now that was an action-packed ending.
Merriam-Webster Dictionary
Word History
'Climate' Change
The evolution of the word's meaning can't be denied
What do we mean when we speak of climate?
Well, as with so many words
that are found in the polysemous mess that we call English, it depends.
We may bereferring to specific weather-related conditions
in a particular area, or to one of a number of more figurative definitions.
Climate came into our language through a traditional route:
our Middle English borrowed it from the Middle French
(promising that we’d pay them back sometime in the 20th century).
The Middle French took it from Late Latin
(Late Latin was probably having an argument with Middle Latin, and got distracted);
Late Latin won it off Greek in a game of dice
(cheating, as Late Latin always does).
The Greek word that we trace climate from was klima,
which means “inclination,” “slope,” or “latitude”
and klima can be traced further still, to the Greek klinein, “to lean”.
There was a theory in antiquity
that the world could be divided into seven distinct zones called climates,
which were designated
based on the slope or inclination of the northern celestial pole
changing as one moved north from the equator.
Climate was in use in English for well over a hundred years
before we began to use the word in the 16th century
to refer to weather conditions.
….the marchants of England that shall trade hereafter thither,
partly by certaine secrete comodities already discouered
by your seruants, & partly by breeding of diuers sorts of beasts
in those large & ample regions, & plainting of
such things in that warme climat as will best prosper there,
& our realme standeth most in need of.
René Goulaine de Laudonnière, A Notable Historie (trans. by R.H.), 1587
Once climate was applied to weather,
it did not take very long
before we began to employ the word in a figurative fashion.
From the middle of the 17th century on
we have considerable evidence
of people using climate as a synonym of atmosphere
(in the non-literal sense of that word).
….the Meridian of those Primitive-Church times;
yet may, doth, without much observable difference,
serve generally for great Britain,
and the Climate of our English Church and State….
—John Clarke, Leaven, Corrupting the Children’s Bread, 1646
Insomuch that by the King's command hee beeing enforced to leave the agreeable Climate of the Court, it was no difficult matter to perswade the imprudent Almeria to transvest her self and follow him, judging that in that habit every one would take her for mee.
—Jean-Pierre Camus, Nature’s Paradox (trans. By M. Wright), 1652
The words, as appears by the coherence, are principally calculated for the Climate of persecution, when men suffer for righteousness sake, and enjoyn all a free and fearless profession of the Faith, when called thereunto.
—Thomas Fuller, A Triple Reconciler, 1654
In modern use climate is often found paired with change.
This compound noun (climate change)
may be defined, in brief, as “a change in the climate of the earth;
specifically: global warming.”
Our useof climate change is not particularly new
(the Oxford English Dictionary has citations for its use
since the middle of the 19th century),
although it has seen considerably more use in recent decades.
In case you were wondering, yes,
climate and climax do share origins,
the aforementioned Greek word klinein.
Since one of the English meanings of climax
is “the point of highest dramatic tension
or a major turning point in the action
of a play, story, or other literary composition,”
we will declare this sentence to be the climax
of the story of climate, and end on a note of dramatic tension.
Dictionary of Problem Words in English
acme& climax
Acme means “summit,” “highest point,”
Climax implies a scale of increasing, ascending values
and is applied to the highest point ininterest, force, or intensity.
“His performance was the acme of professional skill.”
“The climax of the indoor games was the mile run.”
