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Glite Dictionary
🌙 Menopause period 🧔 Midlife changes
climacteric

climacteric

9.7
The time in a woman's life when her periods stop, often in middle age
  • noun
  • /klaɪˈmæktərɪk/
  • Formal
translation icon : climaterio
  • The doctor explained that the climacteric is a natural stage that occurs when menstruation stops.

Examples

  • He prescribed a few pills; on the package was printed: also helpful for postnatal depression and depressive conditions in climacteric.

    Fiction book (1997)

  • Moreover, though Moulsworth mentions the mourning period after her first husband's death at line fifty-four, she uses the term "widow" for the first time in the poem itself in line fifty-six, perhaps suggesting her recognition of the peril she might expect to face in the climacteric year following her fifty-sixth birthday.

    Fiction book (1996)

  • Many women experience hot flashes and mood swings during their climacteric phase of life.

  • She read several books to learn more about the physical changes that happen during the climacteric.

Synonyms

menopause
vsclimacteric
62 5.2

A time in a woman's life when monthly bleeding permanently stops and she can no longer become pregnant

is the same period described using a different term
change of life
vsclimacteric
1 4.8

The time when a woman stops having periods and cannot have children

focuses on cessation of periods rather than on loss of fertility

Antonyms

youth
164 1.0

The time between childhood and adulthood when someone is young

fertility
111 3.7

A person's or animal's ability to have babies

Surface Forms

climacteric singular
climacterics plural

Etymology

Climacteric comes from a Greek word that means 'ladder' or 'turning point' and is the same root as climax, which shows a peak or important step. So a climacteric is the big 'turning point' in a woman's life when her periods stop, that is, menopause.