Climatic vs. Climactic – How to Use Each Correctly

/ October 14, 2019/ Usage

climatic versus climactic

What’s the Difference Between Climatic and Climactic?

Climatic and climactic are near homophones. They sound almost exactly alike, with the exception of the k sound in the middle of climactic. Despite their similar pronunciations, the two words have completely different meanings.

Climatic is the adjective of the noun climate, which means weather conditions.

  • The climatic conditions of Iceland prohibit many crops from growing.

Climactic is the adjective form of the noun climax, which means the height of excitement.

  • The climactic scene of the play is when the villain battles the hero.

Let’s look at some of the ways to use these words in English.

Using Climatic in a Sentence

When to use climatic: The adjective climatic describes the overall weather of a place, including temperature, air pressure, precipitation, winds, and more.

For example:

  • The harsh climatic conditions of Antarctica mean that very few animal species can survive there.
  • The climatic variations in temperature on other planets make them inhospitable to carbon-based life forms.

There are several collocations for climatic. The most common of these are below:

  • climatic conditions
  • climatic change
  • climatic data

Because the word relates to the weather, it usually appears in the context of the environment.

Using Climactic in a Sentence

When to use climactic: Climactic most often appears in the context of fictional stories, whether that is in a novel, play, movie, or other form of entertainment. Most fictional stories follow a plot that slowly rises in action, culminating in the climax, which is the height of the action. The action then quickly falls, resolving and ending the story. Climactic refers to this point of the highest action.

For example:

  • It was incredibly climactic when the knight fought the fire breathing dragon.
  • The horror movie was filled with suspense and culminated in a climactic scene in which the murderer attacks the protagonist.

Common collocates with climactic include the following:

  • climactic scene
  • climactic moment
  • climactic battle
  • final climactic
  • climactic event

This word originated in the 1830s, and follows a similar noun to adjective form as syntax to syntactic.

Remembering Climatic vs. Climactic

You can use the spelling and pronunciation of each of these words as a mnemonic device to remember which is which.

Climatic starts with the same first six letters as climate, which can help you remember that these two words have the same meaning but different parts of speech. Likewise, climactic and climax share the same first six sounds. It’s true that the spelling of c and x, are different. However, if you pronounce climax you will hear that the first sound the x maks is the same k sound that c also makes.

Outside Examples

  • “The beans have to go through certain rigorous tests before they can be released to the general public, to make sure they do actually address all the issues well and perform well in different climatic conditions,” said Stanley Nkalubo, a legumes research scientist with Uganda’s National Agricultural Research Organization. –Houston Chronicle
  • Speaking at a conference in Hanoi on Friday marking International Day for Disaster Reduction, Fock said it is time for Vietnam to prepare seriously to reduce its climatic vulnerability. –USA Today
  • The only thing I enjoyed more than the comedy in “Thor: Ragnarok” was a climactic battle sequence synced perfectly to Led Zeppelin’s “Immigrant Song.” –Chicago Sun Times
  • Skipping from Manchester to Rome to Istanbul, “American Assassin” stops off for a shootout here, a torture sequence there, en route to a climactic apocalypse involving nukes, the U.S. Navy, a tsunami of sorts and seething insults traded between the hero rogue and the villain rogue, played by Taylor Kitsch. –Chicago Tribune

Quiz: Climatic vs. Climactic

  1. ________________ changes around the world are causing Arctic ice to melt at astonishing rates.
  2. I found the documentary on animals to be quite interesting, especially the ________________ scene between the lizard and the snakes, in which the lizard was running for its life.
  3. The scientists are gathering _______________ data to see if the moon could support certains strains of bacteria.
  4. I didn’t find the movie interesting at all. There were no ___________ scenes, which made it very boring.
  5. This director excels at writing _____________ moments for the characters!

See answers below.

Article Summary

Should I use climatic or climactic? Despite having similar pronunciations, these words have no overlap in meaning.

  • Climatic is an adjective related to the climate or weather.
  • Climactic is an adjective related to the most exciting part of a story.

In short, use climatic when talking about the weather or environmental conditions and climactic when talking about the most exciting action in a story.

Answers

  1. Climatic
  2. climactic
  3. climatic
  4. climactic
  5. climactic