JUNCTURE

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does juncture mean? 

• JUNCTURE (noun)
  The noun JUNCTURE has 3 senses:

1. an event that occurs at a critical time

2. a crisis situation or point in time when a critical decision must be made

3. the shape or manner in which things come together and a connection is made

  Familiarity information: JUNCTURE used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• JUNCTURE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

An event that occurs at a critical time

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural events

Synonyms:

juncture; occasion

Context example:

it was needed only on special occasions

Hypernyms ("juncture" is a kind of...):

happening; natural event; occurrence; occurrent (an event that happens)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "juncture"):

climax; flood tide (the highest point of anything conceived of as growing or developing or unfolding)

conjuncture (a critical combination of events or circumstances)

crisis (a crucial stage or turning point in the course of something)

landmark; turning point; watershed (an event marking a unique or important historical change of course or one on which important developments depend)

milestone (a significant event in your life (or in a project))

head; pass; straits (a difficult juncture)

reality check (an occasion on which one is reminded of the nature of things in the real world)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A crisis situation or point in time when a critical decision must be made

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Synonyms:

critical point; crossroads; juncture

Context example:

he must be made to realize that the company stands at a critical point

Hypernyms ("juncture" is a kind of...):

crisis (an unstable situation of extreme danger or difficulty)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "juncture"):

criticality (a critical state; especially the point at which a nuclear reaction is self-sustaining)

Sense 3

Meaning:

The shape or manner in which things come together and a connection is made

Classified under:

Nouns denoting two and three dimensional shapes

Synonyms:

articulation; join; joint; junction; juncture

Hypernyms ("juncture" is a kind of...):

connection; connexion; link (a connecting shape)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "juncture"):

esophagogastric junction; oesophagogastric junction (the junction between the esophagus and the stomach epithelium)

Derivation:

join (be or become joined or united or linked)

 Context examples 

I must take leave to observe, Sir Walter, said Mr Shepherd one morning at Kellynch Hall, as he laid down the newspaper, that the present juncture is much in our favour.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

BDNF plays a role in the survival of existing neurons and the growth of new neurons and synapses, the junctures through which cell-to-cell communication occurs.

(New study identifies gene variant linked to compulsive drinking, NIH)

Mr. Copperfield, returned Mr. Micawber, your confidence is not, at the existing juncture, ill-bestowed.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

What a mercy you are shod with velvet, Jane!—a clod-hopping messenger would never do at this juncture.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

A dilation of the duodenal papilla that is the opening of the juncture of the common bile duct and the main pancreatic duct.

(ampulla of Vater, NLM, Medical Subject Headings)

The bend of the colon at the juncture of its ascending and transverse portions.

(Hepatic Flexure, NCI Thesaurus)

But at this juncture, Mugridge, who had lifted his head and ascertained the extent of his loss, floundered over on the deck and buried his teeth in Wolf Larsen’s leg.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

It was at this juncture, when Walt had just decided it was time for him to be saying something to relieve the strain, that Wolf, who had been away nosing through the brush, trotted wolf-like into view.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

But having in my life perused many state-trials, which I ever observed to terminate as the judges thought fit to direct, I durst not rely on so dangerous a decision, in so critical a juncture, and against such powerful enemies.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

Mr. Micawber looking up at this juncture to where we were standing, I had only time to repeat my caution.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)