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   cli·mac·ter·ic

   /klīˈmaktərik/

   noun

   • 1. a critical period or event: "the first major climacteric in twentieth-century poetry"
   • ▪ the period of life when fertility and sexual activity are in decline; (in women) menopause.
   • ▪ the ripening period of certain fruits such as apples, involving increased metabolism and only possible while still on the tree.

   adjective

   • 1. having extreme and far-reaching implications or results; critical: "Britain must possess so climacteric a weapon in order to deter an atomically armed enemy"
   • ▪ occurring at, characteristic of, or undergoing the climacteric; (in women) menopausal.
   • ▪ (of a fruit) undergoing a climacteric.

   Word Origin mid 16th century (in the sense ‘constituting a critical period in life’): from French climactérique or via Latin from Greek klimaktērikos, from klimaktēr ‘critical period’, from klimax ‘ladder, climax’.

   Scrabble Points: 19

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