juncture
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.
a serious state of affairs; crisis: The matter has reached a juncture and a decision must be made.
the line or point at which two bodies are joined; joint or articulation; seam.
the act of joining.
the state of being joined.
something by which two things are joined.
Phonetics.
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.: Compare close juncture, open juncture, terminal juncture.
the point in a word or group of words at which such a pause or other junctural marker occurs.
Origin of juncture
1synonym study For juncture
Words that may be confused with juncture
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use juncture in a sentence
At certain junctures we are tempted to take Sutherland to task for spreading himself too thin.
John Sutherland‘s Enjoyable Little History of Literature | Malcolm Forbes | November 29, 2013 | THE DAILY BEASTThe chaos has proved a direct threat to Israel, at various junctures, and can and should remain an Israeli security priority.
It could have been defused and de-escalated at any number of junctures.
He defers to the law at all junctures, just as Emmett King used to when he read to his family from the Iowa code books.
Its eyes (for it appeared to possess a pair) were bent on Mother Rigby, and at suitable junctures, it nodded or shook its head.
The same line of argument was used to Moore at many junctures in his life and he always had the same answer.
Thomas Moore | Stephen GwynnAs the load of the stone roof was thus concentrated at fixed junctures, it was necessary to reinforce only those given points.
How France Built Her Cathedrals | Elizabeth Boyle O'ReillyIts eyes (for it appeared to possess a pair) were bent on Mother Rigby, and at suitable junctures it nodded or shook its head.
Short Stories of Various Types | VariousBut seventeen is deathly serious at such junctures, and William was in a sensitive condition.
Seventeen | Booth Tarkington
British Dictionary definitions for juncture
/ (ˈdʒʌŋktʃə) /
a point in time, esp a critical one (often in the phrase at this juncture)
linguistics
a pause in speech or a feature of pronunciation that introduces, accompanies, or replaces a pause
the set of phonological features signalling a division between words, such as those that distinguish a name from an aim
a less common word for junction
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Other Idioms and Phrases with juncture
see at this point (juncture).
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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