juncture
/ˈdʒʌŋ(k)tʃə
/noun
1A particular point in events or time: it is difficult to say at this juncture whether this upturn can be sustained...
- ‘We really are at a critical juncture at the moment,’ says Stewart.
- But at critical junctures in the post-war period, for various strategic and or economic reasons, national leaders opted for greater integration.
- These events are examples of kernels - a critical juncture in the story.
Synonyms
point, point in time, time, moment, moment in time, stage;
period, phase
2A place where things join: the plane crashed at the juncture of two mountains...
- After about a kilometer of corridor, they came to a large juncture where the passage intersected ramps leading both up and down.
- However, do not draw at the point where two veins join as there is a valve at these junctures.
- The adjoining infrastructure is over 15 km long and includes a new road linking the existing roads with the bridge and road junctures.
3 Phonetics The set of features in speech that enable a hearer to detect a word or phrase boundary (e.g. distinguishing I scream from ice cream).
Origin
Late Middle English (in the sense 'act of joining'): from Latin junctura, 'joint', from jungere 'to join'.
join from Middle English:
Join comes via Old French joindre, from Latin jungere ‘to join’ also found in joint (Middle English), used in butchery contexts from the late 16th century; juncture (Late Middle English) originally meaning ‘joining’; and junction (early 18th century) which also started out in the sense ‘joining’. Its use in transport is found from the late 18th century.