climatic

Climatic means relating to climate—the average atmospheric conditions that prevail in a given region over a long period of time—whether a place is generally cold and wet or hot and dry, for example. Climactic is used to describe things that involve or feel like a climax—the culmination or most intense part of a story or situation.

Climactic is used in situations in which a peak of some kind is being reached, such as a climactic ending of a movie. The word anticlimactic is used—perhaps more commonly—to mean the opposite, such as when you expect something exciting to happen but it doesn’t.

Climatic is not all that commonly used, especially because it has a much more narrow meaning. It’s typically used in scientific contexts involving climate and weather, like the climatic conditions of a region.

You can keep their spellings straight by remembering that climactic comes from climax, so it needs that c in replacement of the x before the ending -tic. Climatic, on the other hand, is basically climate plus the ending -ic (with the e having been dropped).

Here’s an example of climatic and climactic used correctly in a sentence.

Example: Many people have failed to recognize the danger of the change in climatic conditions because the change has been a relatively gradual one, rather than a dramatic, climactic spike—but that may soon change.

Want to learn more? Read the full breakdown of the difference between climatic and climactic.

Should climatic or climactic be used in the following sentence?

Someone knocked on the door right when the movie had reached its _____ moment.