juncture

[juhngk-cher]

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.

juncture

/ 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

Word History and Origins

Origin of juncture¹

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

Idioms and Phrases

see at this point (juncture).

Synonym Study

See junction.

Example Sentences

“Earnings sentiment is at a critical juncture for the biggest market cap names in the S&P 500,” said Lori Calvasina, head of U.S. equity strategy at RBC Capital Markets in a note published Sunday.

Read more on Barron's

Give him the benefit of hindsight and look at the previous junctures at which he was condemned for not bringing the war to a conclusion.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

The two teams clash at a critical juncture in each of their seasons.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

"We're at a critical juncture in climate change and we need to make decisions. We need to understand what sort of crops we could be potentially growing in the future," explains Richard from UKCEH.

Read more on BBC

By this juncture, she had made up her mind to return to San Jose State.

Read more on Salon

Related Words

• crossroad