juncture

/ˈdʒʌŋ(k)tʃər/

Other forms: junctures

A juncture is a crucial point in time when a decision must be made. At this juncture, a president might say, the government must decide whether to go ahead with war or to try to solve things diplomatically.

A juncture is a joint or connection between two things. Originally used in the physical sense, it has broadened in meaning to refer to an often urgent decision-making crossroads. At some point you and your partner will reach a critical juncture and have to decide whether to get serious or break up. It can also simply mean "point in time." She had never learned how to drive and, at this juncture, she knew she never would.

Definitions of juncture

1. noun

   the shape or manner in which things come together and a connection is made
   synonyms: articulation, join, joint, junction

   types:

   esophagogastric junction, oesophagogastric junction

   the junction between the esophagus and the stomach epithelium

   type of:

   connection, connexion, link

   a connecting shape
2. noun

   an event that occurs at a critical time
   “at such junctures he always had an impulse to leave”

   synonyms: occasion

   types:

   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

   emergency, exigency, pinch

   a sudden unforeseen crisis (usually involving danger) that requires immediate action

   Fall of Man

   (Judeo-Christian mythology) when Adam and Eve ate of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil in the Garden of Eden, God punished them by driving them out of the Garden of Eden and into the world where they would be subject to sickness and pain and eventual death

   road to Damascus

   a sudden turning point in a person's life (similar to the sudden conversion of the Apostle Paul on the road from Jerusalem to Damascus of arrest Christians)

   type of:

   happening, natural event, occurrence, occurrent

   an event that happens
3. noun

   a crisis situation or point in time when a critical decision must be made
   “at that juncture he had no idea what to do”

   synonyms: critical point, crossroads

   types:

   criticality

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

   flash point, flashpoint

   point at which something is ready to blow up

   type of:

   crisis

   an unstable situation of extreme danger or difficulty