climacteric

[ klahy-mak-ter-ik, klahy-mak-ter-ik ]

noun

1. Physiology. a period of decrease of reproductive capacity in men and women, culminating, in women, in the menopause.
2. any critical period.
3. a year in which important changes in health, fortune, etc., are held by some theories to occur, as one's sixty-third year grand climacteric.
4. the period of maximum respiration in a fruit, during which it becomes fully ripened.

adjective

1. Also cli·mac·ter·i·cal [] critical; crucial.

climacteric

/ ˌklaɪmækˈtɛrɪk; klaɪˈmæktərɪk /

noun

1. a critical event or period
2. another name for menopause
3. the period in the life of a man corresponding to the menopause, chiefly characterized by diminished sexual activity
4. botany the period during which certain fruits, such as apples, ripen, marked by a rise in the rate of respiration

adjective

1. involving a crucial event or period

Derived Forms

• ˌclimacˈterically, adverb

Other Words From

• climac·teri·cal·ly adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of climacteric¹

1595–1605; < Latin clīmactēricus < Greek klīmaktērikós ( klīmaktḗr rung of a ladder, critical point in life, equivalent to klīmak-, stem of klîmax ( climax ) + -tēr noun suffix) + -ikos -ic

Word History and Origins

Origin of climacteric¹

C16: from Latin clīmactēricus, from Greek klimaktērikos, from klimakter rung of a ladder, from klimax ladder; see climax

Example Sentences

I know I am at a climacteric for all men who live by their wits, so I do not despair.

From Project Gutenberg

There were those who pretended that the climacteric years were fatal to political bodies as well as to individuals.

From Project Gutenberg

Yet the struggle for what was accomplished appears to have created a climacteric in the doer.

From Project Gutenberg

He was dizzily weak; collapse had quickly followed the climacteric excitement of being beside her, of speaking to her.

From Project Gutenberg

Lorenzo the Magnificent had been ruling Florence for many years and was then at the climacteric of his fame.

From Project Gutenberg