What's an anti-climax?

Question

in a story

Answer 1

To put it quite simply, it's when the author, has built up your interest in the story to the point of extreme anticipation for the climax, only, to have it come out in such a way of simplification that is Pi$$es you off, because, it is so stupid and leaves you feeling deprived of the expected ending.

Anti-Climax
An anti-climax is where something which would appear to be difficult to solve in a plot is solved through something trivial. For example, destroying a heavily guarded facility would require advanced technology, teamwork and weaponry for a climax, but in an anti-climax it may just consist of pushing a red button which says "Emergency Self-Destruct".

Similarly an anti-climax is an abrupt declension (either deliberate or unintended) on the part of a speaker or writer from the dignity of idea which he appeared to be aiming at; as in the following well-known distich:--

Answer 2

when your hero wakes up, and it's all a dream... that's an anti-climax (in a story)

It's when the ending doesn't continue the same emotional charge that the rest of the piece had - as if you are suddenly let down at the end...

Answer 3

Think this:
Instead of a highspeed gun fight on a motorboat or something at the end of a James Bond movie, the enemy just dies by a clumsy mistake and everyone lives happily ever after. you'd expect a fight, and an ending like that would disappoint you. That's an anticlimax. It means, instead of an exciting event or an event that is particularly interesting or "climatic", there is suddenly a very soft or boring event in place of it. Yawn.

Answer 4

(1) A sudden drop from the important to the trivial.
(2) A descent which is in disappointing contrast to a preceding rise.
Source: Webster's dictionary
For example, you can think of an anticlimatic ending of a movie.