Choose the Right Synonym for juncture

juncture, exigency, emergency, contingency, pinch, strait (or straits) crisis mean a critical or crucial time or state of affairs. juncture stresses the significant concurrence or convergence of events. an important juncture in our country's history exigency stresses the pressure of restrictions or urgency of demands created by a special situation. provide for exigencies emergency applies to a sudden unforeseen situation requiring prompt action to avoid disaster. the presence of mind needed to deal with emergencies contingency implies an emergency or exigency that is regarded as possible but uncertain of occurrence. contingency plans pinch implies urgency or pressure for action to a less intense degree than exigency or emergency. come through in a pinch strait, now commonly straits, applies to a troublesome situation from which escape is extremely difficult. in dire straits crisis applies to a juncture whose outcome will make a decisive difference. a crisis of confidence

Did you know?

Juncture has many relatives—both obvious and obscure—in English. Juncture derives from the Latin verb jungere ("to join"), which gave us not only join and junction but also conjugal ("relating to marriage") and junta ("a group of persons controlling a government"). Jungere also has distant etymological connections to joust, jugular, juxtapose, yoga, and yoke. The use of juncture in English dates back to the 14th century. Originally, the word meant "a place where two or more things are joined," but by the 17th century it could also be used of an important point in time or of a stage in a process or activity.

Examples of juncture in a Sentence

Negotiations between the countries reached a critical juncture. At this juncture it looks like they are going to get a divorce. the juncture of two rivers

Recent Examples on the Web Yet this is seen by many as a particularly perilous juncture of the war, as Ukraine and its allies wonder whether Putin, livid over a triumph that has eluded him, will lash out in ways not yet seen in this conflict. — Laura Kingstaff Writer, Los Angeles Times, 7 May 2022 Scholars still debate exactly how dangerous this juncture was. — Francine Uenuma, Smithsonian Magazine, 27 Apr. 2022 The proposal gives the EPA another critical juncture to pressure an agency to move toward clean energy. — Mekedas Belayneh, The New Republic, 25 Apr. 2022 At this early juncture, blended earnings, which combine actual with estimates of companies yet to report, are mixed relative to forecasts at the end of the quarter. — Bill Stone, Forbes, 17 Apr. 2022 More notable than Hemedti’s public show of allegiance to Russia during this moment of international opprobrium was that Lavrov actually made time for Hemedti at such a critical juncture. — Time, 8 Apr. 2022 The Last Two Minute Report gets released the day after every game that’s contested at or within three points during any juncture in the last two minutes of the fourth quarter and overtime. — Chris Fedor, cleveland, 4 Apr. 2022 Setting up local manufacturing plants would provide a dramatic economic boost across the continent at a historic economic juncture. — Jeremi Suri And Clark Miller, CNN, 24 Mar. 2022 The tension over how to approach this juncture of the pandemic was evident in a statement announcing the departure of the president’s coronavirus response coordinator on Thursday. — New York Times, 17 Mar. 2022 See More

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'juncture.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

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