climacteric
/klʌɪmakˈtɛɹɪk/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: 1.45 in modern English
19
Scrabble Score
11
Letters
4
Syllables
8
Unique Chars
Meaning
adj
Pertaining to any of several supposedly critical years of a person's life.
adj
Relating to a period of physiological change during middle age; especially, menopausal.
adj
noun
A critical stage or decisive point; a turning point.
noun
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).
noun
The period of life that leads up to and follows the end of menstruation in women; the menopause.
Example Sentences
- "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."
- "Asari pass through three climacteric life stages, marked by biochemical and physiological changes. The Maiden stage begins at birth and is marked by the drive to explore and experience. Most young asari are curious and restless. The Matron stage of life begins around the age of 350, though it can be triggered earlier if the individual melds frequently. This period is marked by a desire to settle in one area and raise children. The Matriarch stage begins around 700, or earlier if the individual melds rarely. Matriarchs become active in their community as sages and councilors, dispensing wisdom from centuries of experience."
- "The seeds of a climateric insurrection against the hypocrisy of cultural norms."
- "It is your lot, as it was mine, to live during one of the grand climacterics of the world."
- "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."
- "I should hardly yield my rigid fibers to be regenerated by them; nor begin, in my grand climacteric, to squall in their new accents, or to stammer, in my second cradle, the elemental sounds of their barbarous metaphysics."
Etymology
From Latin clīmactēricus, from Koine Greek κλιμακτηρικός (klimaktērikós), from κλιμακτήρ (klimaktḗr, “scale, progression, gradation”).
Origin
- Source language: Latin
Word Breakdown
- Root: *ḱley-, clīmactēricus, κλιμακτηρικός
Inflected Forms
Derived Forms
Phrases
grand climacteric
great climacteric