n. 1. a. See menopause. b. See perimenopause. 2. A critical period or year in a person's life when major changes in health or fortune are thought to take place. 3. A critical stage, period, or year: "before the end of the millennium, whether [he] lives to see that ecclesiastical climacteric or not" (Conor Cruise O'Brien). adj. 1. Of or relating to a climacteric. 2. Critical; crucial. [From Latin clīmactēricus, of a dangerous period in life, from Greek klīmaktērikos, from klīmaktēr, dangerous point, rung of a ladder, from klīmax, ladder; see CLIMAX.] |
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