menopause, climacteric, change of life
(noun) the time in a woman’s life in which the menstrual cycle ends
climacteric
(noun) a period in a man’s life corresponding to menopause
Source: WordNet® 3.1
climacteric (comparative more climacteric, superlative most climacteric)
Pertaining to any of several supposedly critical years of a person's life. [from 17th c.]
Critical or crucial; decisive. [from 17th c.]
(medicine) Relating to a period of physiological change during middle age; especially, menopausal. [from 18th c.]
Climactic. [from 18th c.]
climacteric (plural climacterics)
A critical stage or decisive point; a turning point. [from 17th c.]
• Sketch of Connecticut, Forty Years Since, p. 66-67.
A period in human life in which some great change is supposed to take place, calculated in different ways by different authorities (often identified as every seventh or ninth year). [from 17th c.]
(medicine) The period of life that leads up to and follows the end of menstruation in women; the menopause. [from 18th c.]
Source: Wiktionary
Cli*mac"ter*ic ( or ; 277), a. Etym: [L. climactericus, Gr. Climacter.]
Definition: Relating to a climacteric; critical.
Cli*mac"ter*ic, n.
1. A period in human life in which some great change is supposed to take place in the constitution. The critical periods are thought by some to be the years produced by multiplying 7 into the odd numbers 3, 5, 7, and 9; to which others add the 81st year.
2. Any critical period. It is your lot, as it was mine, to live during one of the grand climacterics of the world. Southey. Grand or Great climacteric, the sixty-third year of human life. I should hardly yield my rigid fibers to be regenerated by them; nor begin, in my grand climacteric, to squall in their new accents, or to stammer, in my second cradle, the elemental sounds of their barbarous metaphysics. Burke.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition
2 May 2025
(noun) excavation consisting of a vertical or sloping passageway for finding or mining ore or for ventilating a mine
The world’s most expensive coffee costs more than US$700 per kilogram. Asian palm civet – a cat-like creature in Indonesia, eats fruits, including select coffee cherries. It excretes partially digested seeds that produce a smooth, less acidic brew of coffee called kopi luwak.
