A single letter can change a word. In the case of “climatic” and “climactic,” the extra “c” changes the meaning of the two words utterly.
“Climatic” finds its roots in the word “climate.” In an unsurprising twist, “climatic” relates to weather and works as an adjective. For instance, a series of tornados outside Tornado Alley could herald a climatic change.
“Climactic” comes from “climax.” Like climatic, it operates as an adjective, but it means a dramatic high point. The earlier tornados could not only indicate a climatic change but also be the climactic point in a meteorologist’s career. All his preceding work led to the moment in time, and he will be immortalized on TV and the internet and perhaps in a few prestigious journals.
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