cli·mac·ter·ic 
(klī-măktər-ĭk, klī′măk-tĕrĭk)
(klī-măktər-ĭk, klī′măk-tĕrĭk)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.]