climax

Noun

• arrangement of clauses in ascending order of forcefulness

• the most severe stage of a disease

• the moment of most intense pleasure in sexual intercourse

• the decisive moment in a novel or play
  • the deathbed scene is the climax of the play
    

• the highest point of anything conceived of as growing or developing or unfolding
  • the climax of the artist's career
    
  • in the flood tide of his success
    

Verb

• end, especially to reach a final or climactic stage
  • The meeting culminated in a tearful embrace
    

Related words

• Synonyms: 
  orgasm , sexual climax , coming , culmination , flood tide , culminate