climacteric
Life's turning point
Climacteric refers to a critical period or turning point, especially one involving major physiological change.
In medicine, it denotes the phase when fertility declines—menopause in women, andropause in men: She entered the climacteric in her late forties.
In horticulture, climacteric fruits like bananas and tomatoes ripen rapidly after harvest due to a burst of ethylene production, while non-climacteric fruits like grapes do not.
The broader sense of a decisive juncture appears in older literary usage: the climacteric year of his career.
Phase before fertility ends
- postmenopauseStage after menstruation ends
- hot flashesBrief intense warmth episodes
- night sweatsExcessive perspiration during sleep
- estrogenFemale reproductive hormone
progesterone · hormone replacement therapy · ovaries · irregular periods · vaginal dryness · mood swings · sleep disturbances · osteoporosis
Vitally important, deciding
- decisiveQuick to conclude
- crucialOf supreme importance
- momentousOf great significance
- determiningEstablishing with certainty
vital · essential · paramount · consequential · fundamental · urgent · imperative · grave
Highest or final point
- apexUppermost point or culmination
- zenithPoint straight overhead
- acmeUltimate point of attainment
- pinnacleUtmost summit or spire
crescendo · highpoint · capstone · watershed · meridian · turning point · maximal · critical point
Becoming ready to eat
- ethyleneSimplest alkene, C₂H₄
- respirationGas exchange in organisms
- senescenceGradual functional decline with age
- harvestGathering mature crops
apples · pears · bananas · tomatoes · avocados · post-harvest · softening · color change
Chief male sex hormone
- male menopauseMidlife male hormone decline
- middle-agedIn life's middle decades
- libidoInnate erotic drive
- fatigueWeariness from prolonged exertion
erectile dysfunction · vitality · midlife · hypogonadism · DHEA
perimenopause
Phase before fertility ends
- postmenopauseStage after menstruation ends
- hot flashesBrief intense warmth episodes
- night sweatsExcessive perspiration during sleep
estrogen · progesterone · hormone replacement therapy · ovaries · irregular periods · vaginal dryness · mood swings · sleep disturbances · osteoporosis · flushes
pivotal
Vitally important, deciding
determining · vital · essential · paramount · consequential · fundamental · urgent · imperative · grave · acute
culmination
Highest or final point
pinnacle · crescendo · highpoint · capstone · watershed · meridian · turning point · maximal · critical point · tipping point
ripening
Becoming ready to eat
- ethyleneSimplest alkene, C₂H₄
- respirationGas exchange in organisms
- senescenceGradual functional decline with age
harvest · apples · pears · bananas · tomatoes · avocados · post-harvest · softening · color change
testosterone
Chief male sex hormone
- male menopauseMidlife male hormone decline
- middle-agedIn life's middle decades
- libidoInnate erotic drive
fatigue · erectile dysfunction · vitality · midlife · hypogonadism · DHEA
- ripenessripe, unripe, overripe, underripe, green
- ripeningripening, maturation, softening, color change, starch conversion
- reproductionreproduction, birth, baby, egg, sperm
- plant growthbloom, bud, buds, flower, fruit
climacterictrivial
Lacking significance or weight
insignificant · inconsequential · unimportant · noncritical · minor
climactericanticlimactic
Disappointingly weak after buildup
bathetic · flat · deflating · underwhelming · uneventful
climactericsteady state
Unchanging system condition
plateau · stasis · prepubescence · homeostasis · youth
climax, anticlimax, anticlimactic, anticlimaxes, anticlimactically