Climacteric

//klʌɪmakˈtɛɹɪk// adj, noun

Definitions

Adjective
  1. 1
    Pertaining to any of several supposedly critical years of a person's life.

    "Closely parallel to the belief in unlucky days was the notion of climacteric years, those periodic dates in a man's life which were potential turning-points in his health and fortune."

  2. 2
    Critical or crucial; decisive.

    "The seeds of a climateric insurrection against the hypocrisy of cultural norms."

  3. 3
    Relating to a period of physiological change during middle age; especially, menopausal.
  4. 4
    Climactic.
  5. 5
    (of fruit) That continues to ripen after being harvested.
Noun
  1. 1
    A critical stage or decisive point; a turning point.

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

  2. 2
    the time in a woman's life in which the menstrual cycle ends wordnet
  3. 3
    A period in human life in which some great change is supposed to take place, calculated in different ways by different authorities (often identified as every seventh or ninth year).
  4. 4
    a period in a man's life corresponding to menopause wordnet
  5. 5
    The period of life that leads up to and follows the end of menstruation in women; the menopause.

    "Once women have traversed the turmoil of the climacteric years and reached the hormonal steady-state of the post-menopause, there is almost certainly no increase in the incidence of depression."

Etymology

Etymology 1

From Latin clīmactēricus, from Koine Greek κλιμακτηρικός (klimaktērikós), from κλιμακτήρ (klimaktḗr, “scale, progression, gradation”).

Etymology 2

From Latin clīmactēricus, from Koine Greek κλιμακτηρικός (klimaktērikós), from κλιμακτήρ (klimaktḗr, “scale, progression, gradation”).

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