climax vs culminate

climax

verb
  • To reach or bring to a climax (in any sense). 

noun
  • 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. 

  • A culmination or acme: the last term in an ascending series 

  • The culmination of a narrative's rising action, the turning point. 

  • The culmination of ecological development, whereby species are in equilibrium with their environment. 

culminate

verb
  • To reach a climax; to come to a decisive point, especially an end or conclusion. 

  • To finalize, bring to a conclusion, form the climax of. 

  • To reach a point at which continued progress is not possible. 

  • Of a heavenly body, to be at the highest point, reach its greatest altitude. 

  • To reach the (physical or figurative) summit, highest point, peak etc. 

adj
  • Relating to the culmen 

How often have the words climax and culminate occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )