climacteric

• POS: Adjective, Noun
• HYPHEN: cli=mac=ter=ic

CIDE DICTIONARY

climacteric, a. [L. climactericus, Gr. . See Climacter.].

 Relating to a climacteric; critical.  [1913 Webster]

climacteric, n. 

•  A period in human life in which some great change is supposed to take place in the constitution. The critical periods are thought by some to be the years produced by multiplying 7 into the odd numbers 3, 5, 7, and 9; to which others add the 81st year.  [1913 Webster]
•  Any critical period.  [1913 Webster]

  "It is your lot, as it was mine, to live during one of the grand climacterics of the world."  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

climacteric, n. & adj.
--n.
1 Med. the period of life when fertility and sexual activity are in decline.
2 a supposed critical period in life (esp. occurring at intervals of seven years).
--adj.
1 Med. occurring at the climacteric.
2 constituting a crisis; critical.

Etymology

F climat{eacute}rique or L climactericus f. Gk klimakterikos f. klimakter critical period f. klimax -akos ladder

THESAURUS

climacteric

change of life, charged, clutch, convergence of events, crisis, critical, critical juncture, critical point, crossroads, crucial, crucial period, crunch, decisive, desperate, dire, emergency, emergent, exigency, exigent, extremity, grand climacteric, hinge, kairotic, loaded, menopause, pass, pinch, pivotal, pregnant, push, rub, strait, turn, turning point

ROGET THESAURUS

climacteric

Age

N age, oldness, old age, advanced age, golden years, senility, senescence, years, anility, gray hairs, climacteric, grand climacteric, declining years, decrepitude, hoary age, caducity, superannuation, second childhood, second childishness, dotage, vale of years, decline of life, sear and yellow leaf, threescore years and ten, green old age, ripe age, longevity, time of life, seniority, eldership, elders, firstling, doyen, father, primogeniture, geriatrics, nostology, aged, old, elderly, geriatric, senile, matronly, anile, in years, ripe, mellow, run to seed, declining, waning, past one's prime, gray, gray-headed, hoar, hoary, venerable, time-worn, antiquated, passe, effete, decrepit, superannuated, advanced in life, advanced in years, stricken in years, wrinkled, marked withthe crow's foot, having one foot in the grave, doting, like the last of pea time, older, elder, eldest, senior, firstborn, turned of, years old, of a certain age, no chicken, old as Methuselah, ancestral, patriarchal, gerontic, give me a staff of honor for my age, bis pueri senes, peu de gens savent elre vieux, plenus annis abiit plenus honoribus, old age is creeping on apace, slow-consuming age, the hoary head is a crown of glory, the silver livery of advised age, to grow old gracefully, to vanish in the chinks that Time has made.