juncture

American  

[juhngk-cher] / ˈdʒʌŋk tʃər /

noun

1. a point of time, especially one made critical or important by a concurrence of circumstances.

   At this juncture, we must decide whether to stay or to walk out.

2. a serious state of affairs; crisis.

   The matter has reached a juncture and a decision must be made.

3. the line or point at which two bodies are joined; joint or articulation; seam.

4. the act of joining.

5. the state of being joined.

6. something by which two things are joined.

7. Phonetics.

   1. a pause or other phonological feature or modification of a feature, as the lengthening of a preceding phoneme or the strengthening of a following one, marking a transition or break between sounds, especially marking the phonological boundary of a word, clause, or sentence: it is present in such words as night-rate and re-seed and absent in such words as nitrate and recede.

   2. the point in a word or group of words at which such a pause or other junctural marker occurs.

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juncture British  

/ ˈdʒʌŋktʃə /

noun

1. a point in time, esp a critical one (often in the phrase at this juncture )

2. linguistics

   1. a pause in speech or a feature of pronunciation that introduces, accompanies, or replaces a pause

   2. the set of phonological features signalling a division between words, such as those that distinguish a name from an aim

3. a less common word for junction

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juncture Idioms  

1. see at this point (juncture).

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Related Words

See junction.

Etymology

Origin of juncture

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English, from Latin junctūra, equivalent to junct(us) ( junction ) + -ūra -ure

Example Sentences

The band is pitched right at a difficult juncture at which their artistic ambitions abut real, life-altering attention.

From Los Angeles Times

Moreover, Rajadhyaksha emphasizes that a sound motivation for preferring the U.S. at this juncture is that it’s an “energy powerhouse.”

From MarketWatch

The software industry has reached a critical juncture as artificial intelligence threatens to upend how companies generate revenue, some analysts believe.

From MarketWatch

The simple answer is that the top management of Aston Martin and Audi have felt things were not working at various junctures and decided to act.

From BBC

The European Union also warned in a recent submission that the organisation was "at a critical and, in fact, an existential juncture", while Britain cautioned that "without reform, it will slide into irrelevance".

From Barron's

Related Words

• crossroad