/jungk"cheuhr/ , n.
1. a point of time, esp. 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. Phonet.
a. 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, esp. 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. Cf. close juncture, open juncture, terminal juncture .
b. the point in a word or group of words at which such a pause or other junctural marker occurs.
[ 1350-1400; ME junctura, equiv. to junct ( us ) (see JUNCTION) + -ura -URE ]
Syn. 1, 3. See junction .