Sekirov Dictionary

climacteric

/klʌɪmakˈtɛɹɪk/

adjective 5
noun 3
forms 3

adjective5

•
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. — 1971
Relating to a period of physiological change during middle age; especially, menopausal.
•
Critical or crucial; decisive.
- The seeds of a climateric insurrection against the hypocrisy of cultural norms. — 1991
(of fruit) That continues to ripen after being harvested.
Climactic.

noun3

•
A critical stage or decisive point; a turning point.
- Sketch of Connecticut, Forty Years Since, p. 66-67. [H]e was in his grand climacterick, with a florid brow, and a step like youthful agility. Sigourney, Lydia.
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).
•
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. — 1998

forms

climacterics · more climacteric · most climacteric

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