climacteric

¹cli·mac·ter·ic

adj
\klī-ˈmak-t(ə-)rik; ˌklī-ˌmak-ˈter-ik, -ˈtir-\

Definition of CLIMACTERIC

1

: constituting or relating to a climacteric

2

: critical, crucial

Examples of CLIMACTERIC

1. <as the war reached its climacteric phase, the atrocities dramatically increased, both in number and brutality>

Origin of CLIMACTERIC

Latin climactericus, from Greek klimaktērikos, from klimaktēr critical point, literally, rung of a ladder, from klimak-, klimax ladder

First Known Use: 1582

Related to CLIMACTERIC

Synonyms: apocalyptic (also apocalyptical), climactic

Related Words: apical, apogean, crestal, crowning, culminating, high, highest, meridian; critical, crossover, crucial, fateful, life-and-death (also life-or-death), vital; cataclysmal (or cataclysmic), earthshaking, epochal, momentous; deciding, decisive, payoff, pivotal, watershed; go-no-go, make-or-break

Near Antonyms: anticlimactic (also anticlimactical); inconsequential, indecisive, insignificant, noncritical, trivial, unimportant

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Rhymes with CLIMACTERIC

biospheric, cholesteric, congeneric, dysenteric, esoteric, exoteric