climacteric period—
1. the period of menopause in women:
- Psychological and social conditions influenced the presence of depression during the climacteric period.
2. a period of decisive importance:
- Barnes rendered specially valuable service in behalf of the Union during the climacteric period of the Civil War.
climactic period—a period of greatest intensity in a series of events:
- The climactic period in the dinosaurs’ reign was reached just before the ice age.