1
- a critical period or event危机期; 转折点：
the first major climacteric in twentieth-century poetry.
20世纪诗歌第一次主要转折点。
1.1
- Medicine the period of life when fertility and sexual activity are in decline; (in women) menopause.【医】更年期; （妇女）绝经期。
1.2
- Botany the ripening period of certain fruits such as apples, involving increased metabolism and only possible while still on the tree【植】（苹果等果实成熟时的）呼吸跃变。
1
- having extreme and far-reaching implications or results; critical关键的; 危机的：
Britain must possess so climacteric a weapon in order to deter an atomically armed enemy.
英国须拥有一种非常关键的武器来威慑拥有核武器的敌人。
1.1
- Medicine occurring at, characteristic of, or undergoing the climacteric; (in women) menopausal.【医】更年期的; （妇女）绝经期的。
1.2
- Botany (of a fruit) undergoing a climacteric【植】（果实成熟时）呼吸跃变的。
词源
mid 16th cent. （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'.