Climax

Climax (the Greek word for a ladder), a word used formerly in rhetoric, and now adopted into popular language. In rhetoric the word was applied to an advance from strong to stronger terms. Cicero's well-known description of Catiline's departure from the city - "abiit, execssit, evasit, erupit'" - is an example of climax; and everyone must have experienced a moment when matters have come to a climax and forced immediate and decisive action one way or other.