You can describe something as an anticlimax if it disappoints you because it happens after something that was very exciting, or because it is not as exciting as you expected.
After such a promising approach, the cave in itself was something of an anticlimax.
It was sad that his international career should end in such anticlimax.
Synonyms: disappointment, letdown, comedown [informal], bathos More Synonyms of anticlimax
anticlimax in British English
(ˌæntɪˈklaɪmæks)
noun
1.
a disappointing or ineffective conclusion to a series of events, etc
2.
a sudden change from a serious subject to one that is disappointing or ludicrous
3. rhetoric
a descent in discourse from the significant or important to the trivial, inconsequential, etc
Derived forms
anticlimactic (ˌæntɪklaɪˈmæktɪk) or anticlimactical (ˌæntɪklaɪˈmæktɪkəl)
adjective
anticlimactically (ˌanticliˈmactically)
adverb
anticlimax in American English
(ˌæntɪˈklaɪˌmæks)
noun
1.
a sudden drop from the dignified or important in thought or expression to the commonplace or trivial, sometimes for humorous effect
2.
a descent, as in a series of events, which is in ludicrous or disappointing contrast to a preceding rise
Examples of 'anticlimax' in a sentence
anticlimax
It hardly mattered that the couple of tunes that followed were bound to seem a slight anticlimax.
Times, Sunday Times (2015)
Meeting him was a bit of an anticlimax.
The Sun (2009)
All filming inevitably ends in brutal anticlimax.
Times, Sunday Times (2012)
When the news came, it actually felt like a bit of an anticlimax.
Times, Sunday Times (2015)
It's all been a bit of an anticlimax.
Times, Sunday Times (2009)
Sadly, like most sporting dreams it ends in anticlimax and failure.
Times, Sunday Times (2006)
It was a sad anticlimax.
Times, Sunday Times (2008)
Nobody will feel this sense of slight anticlimax more keenly than the Prime Minister.
Times, Sunday Times (2009)
The same but younger is rarely a good look, and there is an inevitable anticlimax in knowing where all this is going to end up.
Times, Sunday Times (2010)
His retirement announcement has added an extra ingredient to what might otherwise have been a slight anticlimax after the return of the Ashes last Monday.
Times, Sunday Times (2006)
The quest ends in an anticlimax, but the film's target viewers will probably be glad to have come along for the mildly whimsical ride.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
Seedoomsday
Chinese translation of 'anticlimax'
anticlimax
(ˈæntɪˈklaɪmæks)
n(c/u)
虎头(頭)蛇尾 (hǔ tóu shé wěi)
Nearby words of
anticlimax
antibody
anticipate
anticipation
anticlimax
anticlockwise
antics
antidote
(noun)
Definition
a disappointing conclusion to a series of events
His international career ended in anticlimax.
Synonyms
disappointment
The defeat was a bitter disappointment.
letdown
There was a great sense of letdown because the doctors had been so confident.
comedown (informal)
After all the build-up, the wedding itself was a bit of a comedown.
bathos
There was an element of bathos about the much-acclaimed speech.
Opposites
summit
,
height
,
highlight
,
top
,
peak
,
climax
,
high point
,
culmination
,
zenith
Quotation
This is the way the world ends Not with a bang but a whimper [T.S. Eliot – The Hollow Men]
Additional synonyms
in the sense of bathos
Definition
a sudden ludicrous descent from exalted to ordinary matters in speech or writing
There was an element of bathos about the much-acclaimed speech.
Synonyms
anticlimax,
disappointment,
sentimentality,
letdown,
comedown (informal),
mawkishness,
false pathos
in the sense of comedown
Definition
a disappointment
After all the build-up, the wedding itself was a bit of a comedown.
Synonyms
disappointment,
blow,
humiliation,
whammy (informal),
letdown,
anticlimax
in the sense of letdown
Definition
a disappointment
There was a great sense of letdown because the doctors had been so confident.