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climacteric was our Word of the Day on 09/25/2011. Hear the podcast!
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Examples of climacteric in a Sentence
as the war reached its climacteric phase, the atrocities dramatically increased, both in number and brutality
Origin and Etymology of climacteric
Latin climactericus, from Greek klimaktērikos, from klimaktēr critical point, literally, rung of a ladder, from klimak-, klimax ladder
First Known Use: 1582
climacteric
Definition of climacteric
1 : a major turning point or critical stage
2a : menopause 1b : andropause
3 : the marked and sudden rise in the respiratory rate of fruit just prior to full ripening
Examples of climacteric in a Sentence
historians attempting to pinpoint the Roman Empire's climacteric, that precise moment when it began its long downhill slide
Did You Know?
Climacteric comes from the Greek word klimaktēr, meaning "critical point" or, literally, "rung of a ladder." English speakers have long used climacteric for those inevitable big moments encountered on the metaphorical ladder of life. The major climacterics in a person’s life were once thought to happen in years denoted by multiples of 7 or 9 or only in the odd multiples of 7 (7, 21, 35, etc.). The grand (or great) climacteric was held to occur in the 63rd (7 x 9) or the 81st (9 x 9) year of life. Today, climacteric can refer to male or female menopause, which typically occurs between the ages of 45 and 55, but the general "turning point" sense is not usually tied to a specific age.
1633
First Known Use of climacteric
1633
Other Physiology Terms
Medical Dictionary
Medical Definition of climacteric
: constituting or characterized by the climacteric the climacteric state
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