The initial portion of some extended thing.
The act of doing that which begins anything; commencement of an action, state, or space of time; entrance into being or upon a course; the first act, effort, or state of a succession of acts or states.
That which is begun; a rudiment or element.
That which begins or originates something; the source or first cause.
Of or relating to the first portion of some extended thing.
A culmination or acme: the last term in an ascending series
A rhetorical device in which a series is arranged in ascending order.
The final term of a rhetorical climax.
The culmination of sexual pleasure, an orgasm.
The culmination of a narrative's rising action, the turning point.
The culmination of ecological development, whereby species are in equilibrium with their environment.
To reach or bring to a climax (in any sense).