climacteric

== English == === Etymology === From Latin clīmactēricus, from Koine Greek κλιμακτηρικός (klimaktērikós), from κλιμακτήρ (klimaktḗr, “scale, progression, gradation”). === Pronunciation === IPA(key): /klʌɪmakˈtɛɹɪk/, /klʌɪˈmaktəɹɪk/ === Adjective === climacteric (comparative more climacteric, superlative most climacteric) Pertaining to any of several supposedly critical years of a person's life. [from 17th c.] Critical or crucial; decisive. [from 17th c.] (medicine) Relating to a period of physiological change during middle age; especially, menopausal. [from 18th c.] Climactic. [from 18th c.] (botany) (of fruit) That continues to ripen after being harvested. ==== Derived terms ==== ==== Translations ==== === Noun === climacteric (plural climacterics) A critical stage or decisive point; a turning point. [from 17th c.] 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). [from 17th c.] (medicine) The period of life that leads up to and follows the end of menstruation in women; the menopause. [from 18th c.] ==== Derived terms ==== grand climacteric, great climacteric ==== Translations ==== ==== See also ==== menopausal === References === “climacteric”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.