The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Climacteric \Cli*mac"ter*ic\ (? or ?; 277), a. [L.
   climactericus, Gr. ?. See Climacter.]
   Relating to a climacteric; critical.
   [1913 Webster]

The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Climacteric \Cli*mac"ter*ic\, n.
   1. A period in human life in which some great change is
      supposed to take place in the constitution. The critical
      periods are thought by some to be the years produced by
      multiplying 7 into the odd numbers 3, 5, 7, and 9; to
      which others add the 81st year.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. Any critical period.
      [1913 Webster]

            It is your lot, as it was mine, to live during one
            of the grand climacterics of the world. --Southey.
      [1913 Webster]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

climacteric
    n 1: a period in a man's life corresponding to menopause
    2: the time in a woman's life in which the menstrual cycle ends
       [syn: menopause, climacteric, change of life]

Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:

34 Moby Thesaurus words for "climacteric":
   change of life, charged, clutch, convergence of events, crisis,
   critical, critical juncture, critical point, crossroads, crucial,
   crucial period, crunch, decisive, desperate, dire, emergency,
   emergent, exigency, exigent, extremity, grand climacteric, hinge,
   kairotic, loaded, menopause, pass, pinch, pivotal, pregnant, push,
   rub, strait, turn, turning point