juncture

[juhngk-cher] /ˈdʒʌŋk tʃər/
noun
1.
a point of time, especially one made critical or important by a concurrence of circumstances:
At this juncture, we must decide whether to stay or to walk out.
2.
a serious state of affairs; crisis:
The matter has reached a juncture and a decision must be made.
3.
the line or point at which two bodies are joined; joint or articulation; seam.
4.
the act of joining.
5.
the state of being joined.
6.
something by which two things are joined.
7.
Phonetics.
  1. a pause or other phonological feature or modification of a feature, as the lengthening of a preceding phoneme or the strengthening of a following one, marking a transition or break between sounds, especially marking the phonological boundary of a word, clause, or sentence: it is present in such words as night-rate and re-seed and absent in such words as nitrate and recede.
    Compare close juncture, open juncture, terminal juncture.
  2. the point in a word or group of words at which such a pause or other junctural marker occurs.
Origin
1350-1400; Middle English < Latin junctūra, equivalent to junct(us) (see junction) + -ūra -ure
Can be confused
junction, juncture (see synonym study at junction)
Synonyms
1, 3. See junction.
Examples from the web for juncture
  • The narrow, winding brick path allows one to wander around two ponds and over an arched stone bridge at the point of juncture.
  • What term describes/identifies the juncture between theory and practice?
  • At this critical juncture I'd like to offer some relationship counseling.
  • At the most critical juncture in my career, I decided upon part-time work.
  • The news business is at a critical juncture.
  • At this juncture, no one can predict the victor.
  • Wireless costs have reached a critical juncture.
  • The conference comes at a critical juncture in the war.
  • And compassion is especially difficult at a critical juncture of the season.
  • At this juncture, my strongly held opinion is that there is no useful distinction between mental-physical, medical-mental health.
British Dictionary definitions for juncture

juncture

/ˈdʒʌŋktʃə/
noun
1.
a point in time, esp a critical one (often in the phrase at this juncture)
2.
(linguistics)
  1. a pause in speech or a feature of pronunciation that introduces, accompanies, or replaces a pause
  2. the set of phonological features signalling a division between words, such as those that distinguish a name from an aim
3.
a less common word for junction
Word Origin and History for juncture
n.

late 14c., "place where two things are joined," from Latin iunctura "a joining, uniting, a joint," from iunctus, past participle of iungere "to join" (see jugular). Sense of "point in time" first recorded 1650s, probably from astrology.

juncture in Medicine

juncture junc·ture (jŭngk'chər)
n.
The point, line, or surface of union of two parts.

Idioms and Phrases with juncture

juncture

see: at this point (juncture)