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Climactic is used to describe things that involve or feel like a climax—t��� culmination or most intense part of a story or situation. Climatic means relating to climate—t��� 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 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.

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 -ic ending (with the e having been dropped).

Here’s an example of climactic and climatic 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 climactic and climatic.

Should climactic or climatic be used in the following sentence?

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