Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “anticlimactic” come from?

Anticlimactic derives from English anti- plus climactic, with the prefix anti- from Ancient Greek ἀντι-, from ἀντί meaning "against," from Proto-Indo-European h₂énti.

anticlimactic (English): Lacking climax, disappointing or ironically...

Definitions

  1. Lacking climax, disappointing or ironically...

Ancestry of “anticlimactic”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1EnglishclimacticOf, pertaining to, or constituting a climax;...
2English-icUsed to form adjectives from nouns with the...
3EnglishimageAn optical or other representation of a real...
4Frenchimagepicture, image; frame; first-person singular...
5Portugueseimagemimage; picture; figure; image; image; face
6Spanishimagenimage
7Italianimmagineimage; imago
8Latinimāginem—
9Latinim-Alternative form of in-; form of "in"; in
10Latinīn-—
11Latinîn—
12Latinenlookǃ beholdǃ; reallyǃ?; come onǃ
13Proto-Italicenin
14Proto-Indo-Europeanh₁énin

Words derived from “anticlimactic”

  • anticlimactically
Every word from Proto-Indo-European h₁én →