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Origin and history of anticlimactic

anticlimactic(adj.)

also anti-climactic, "of the nature of an anticlimax," 1831; see anticlimax + -ic.

also from 1831

Entries linking to anticlimactic

anticlimax(n.)

"the addition of a particular which suddenly lowers the effect," especially, in style, "an abrupt descent from a stronger to a weaker expression or from greater to lesser things," 1701, from anti- + climax (n.).

-ic

Middle English -ik, -ick, word-forming element making adjectives, "having to do with, having the nature of, being, made of, caused by, similar to," from French -ique and directly from Latin -icus or from cognate Greek -ikos "in the manner of; pertaining to." From PIE adjective suffix *-(i)ko, which also yielded Slavic -isku, adjectival suffix indicating origin, the source of the -sky (Russian -skii) in many surnames. In chemistry, indicating a higher valence than names in -ous (first in benzoic, 1791).

In Middle English and after often spelled -ick, -ike, -ique. Variant forms in -ick (critick, ethick) were common in early Modern English and survived in English dictionaries into early 19c. This spelling was supported by Johnson but opposed by Webster, who prevailed.

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    latitude
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