juncture

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The Word of the Day for January 4 is: 

juncture   \JUNK-cher\   noun 
     1 : joint, connection 
    *2 : a point of time; especially : one made critical by a concurrence of 
circumstances

Example sentence:
     "At this juncture in the editing process," said Philip, "it is important 
that all facts have been double-checked and sources verified." 

Did you know?
     "Juncture" has many relatives in English -- and some of them are easy to 
spot, whereas others are not so obvious. "Juncture" derives from the Latin verb 
"jungere" ("to join"), which gave us not only "join" and "junction" but also 
"conjugal" ("relating to marriage") and "junta" ("a group of persons 
controlling a government"). "Jungere" also has distant etymological connections 
to "joust," "jugular," "juxtapose," "yoga" and "yoke." The use of "juncture" in 
English dates back to the 14th century. Originally, the word meant "a place 
where two or more things are joined," but by the 17th century it could also be 
used of an important point in time or of a stage in a process or activity.

*Indicates the sense illustrated by the example sentence





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