How to Use climactic in a Sentence

climactic

adjective
  • At the climactic moment, the main character of the novel finds herself face to face with the thief.
  • The torture scene was by far the most climactic in the episode.
    Diego Ramos Bechara, Variety, 20 Sep. 2024
  • The clincher was less climactic, as the Dodgers broke a 1-1 tie with three runs in the fifth, and four in the sixth.
    Los Angeles Times, 23 Oct. 2021
  • It’s the climactic moment, and Grace gets to stop the action!
    Helen Shaw, The New Yorker, 14 Oct. 2022
  • But having the end credits roll over the back end of the song does kind of step on the climactic vibe.
    Chris Willman, Variety, 28 Dec. 2022
  • This would be the episode whose climactic scene is . . .
    Kyle Smith, National Review, 29 Nov. 2020
  • About two-thirds of the way in, there’s a big (big) climactic sequence that turns out to be . . .
    BostonGlobe.com, 1 July 2021
  • The big one: Blue Line No other bill had a more climactic death.
    Brittany Carloni, The Indianapolis Star, 4 Mar. 2024
  • In The Old Man’s climactic finale episode of the season, lives hung in the balance.
    Jp Mangalindan, People.com, 25 Oct. 2024
  • The Shops at Rivercenter is the scene for a climactic battle.
    Timothy Fanning, San Antonio Express-News, 7 Dec. 2021
  • In one climactic scene, Jane is chased out of the palace by usurpers, and a rival army meets her at the drawbridge.
    Erin Strecker, IndieWire, 27 June 2024
  • So saving that big thing for the end felt so climactic.
    Derek Lawrence, EW.com, 12 Aug. 2021
  • But her climactic rendition of the song stops the show.
    Helen Shaw, The New Yorker, 27 June 2024
  • Most of the extras had paid $1,000 each to be part of the climactic scene leading up to Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount.
    WSJ, 27 Nov. 2021
  • The song serves as Again’s climactic closer, where the tracklist clocks in with 13 songs total.
    Nina Corcoran, Pitchfork, 29 Aug. 2023
  • My husband sat across the stage from me and was visible during a climactic scene in the work.
    Carolina A. Miranda, Los Angeles Times, 26 Dec. 2023
  • The third act is a bit rushed and rickety — the big climactic moment is too wacky, the denouement all too easy.
    Katie Walsh, Los Angeles Times, 21 June 2023
  • The climactic showdown might have been borrowed from any Blumhouse movie over the past 10 years.
    David Fear, Rolling Stone, 6 Oct. 2023
  • The climactic scene and the emotive needle drop would make even the blackest of hearts throb with a little emotion.
    Abid Rahman, The Hollywood Reporter, 9 May 2023
  • But there’s more to Mariko’s climactic sacrifice than meets the eye.
    Brian Davids, The Hollywood Reporter, 17 Apr. 2024
  • Indeed, the zeal of the protesters in April and May of that year led to a climactic legal battle.
    Tomiko Brown-Nagin, Smithsonian Magazine, 23 Feb. 2022
  • The movie’s climactic sequence is less expected, and a bit messier than the other episodes.
    Mark Jenkins, Washington Post, 21 Nov. 2022
  • The scarf is used much as a matador wields a cape to lure a bull before the climactic moment in the song, which ends with the dancers pretending to kiss.
    Fernanda Pérez Sánchez, Vogue, 8 Aug. 2022
  • That tenderness is most felt in the movie’s climactic scene.
    New York Times, 16 June 2021
  • Finally, the time came to film the climactic duel between Paul and Feyd-Rautha.
    Christian Holub, EW.com, 3 Mar. 2024
  • And so Cyber Monday won't be anti-climactic despite the stream of deals in the last few weeks.
    Phil Wahba, Fortune, 30 Nov. 2020
  • There’s no painful climactic point, just a huge empty space.
    Esther Kang, Peoplemag, 23 Apr. 2024
  • The climactic scene takes place when Artie encounters Ann, played by Lisa.
    Owen Thomas, The Christian Science Monitor, 26 Feb. 2024
  • There is little in it to prepare you for a climactic twist which is, in equal measure, audacious and ridiculous.
    Anupama Chopra, The Hollywood Reporter, 5 Nov. 2024
  • Buehler, who’d never saved a big-league game, volunteered to take the ninth on a day’s rest, again thriving upon climactic gravity.
    Nicholas Dawidoff, The New Yorker, 3 Nov. 2024

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'climactic.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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