anticlimax
nounUS /ˈæn.tiˌklaɪ.mæks/
Etymology From anti- + climax.
1
A failed or reverse climax, particularly
- 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.1935 September 18, “The Two Dromios, Jim and Jouette”, in Columbia Daily Tribune, volume XXXV, number 5, Columbia, Mo., page six, column 1:
- Loving her physically would each time be a thrilling voyage without the anticlimax of arrival.1953, Ian Fleming, “Tide of Passion”, in Casino Royale, London: Pan Books, published 1955, page 167:
1 more example
- 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.”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:
› A failed or reverse climax
2
Human sciences, Linguistics, Narratology, Sciences An unsatisfying resolution to a narrative, usually owing to a deus ex machina or similarly trivial resolution of the main conflict.
3
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
- bathos
- Antonyms
- climax, cliffhanger, auxesis
- Related terms
- anticlimactic, underwhelm