conjuncture
(kənˈdʒʌŋktjʊə(r))
[app. a. F. conjoncture (conjuncture in Cotgr. 1611, in early F. conjointure) = It. congiuntura (Florio), Sp. conjuntura (Minsheu), prob. repr. a med. or mod.L. *conjunctūra: see conjunct and -ure.]
† 1. The action of joining together; the fact or state of being joined together; a joining, conjunction, combination. Obs.
| 1665 Walton Life Hooker i. 7 This meekness, and conjuncture of knowledge with modesty. 1672 Mede's Wks., Life 2 What words he most stuck at, either single or in conjuncture. 1679 Hobbes Behemoth ii. (R.), By the conjuncture of philosophy and divinity. 1736 Butler Anal. i. iii. 83 A conjuncture of accidents. |
† b. Meeting (of persons). Obs.
| 1644 Sir H. Slingsby Diary (1836) 105 To prevent y⊇ conjuncture of Sir Thomas Fairfax and his father. c 1645 Howell Lett. (1650) I. 35 God prosper you at home, as me abroad, and send us in good time a joyful conjuncture. |
† c. Marriage union. Obs.
| 1679–1714 Burnet Hist. Ref. (1816) I. i. ii. 191 If a horror were not struck in men at conjunctures in these degrees. |
† d. Place of joining or meeting, junction. Obs.
| 1747 Burton in Phil. Trans. XLIV. 542 Weighton now stands at the Conjuncture of several Roads, which here meet. 1798 T. Hinderwell Hist. Scarborough i. i. 13. |
2. spec. A meeting of circumstances or events; a particular state of affairs, esp. of a critical nature; a juncture, crisis. (The only current sense.) a. simply.
| 1619 Visct. Doncaster in Eng. & Germ. (Camden) 141 The Spanishe succors comming in so fatal a conjuncture maye..dismaye the Bohemians. 1736 Butler Anal. i. iii. Wks. 1874 I. 64 In certain conjunctures, ignorance and folly..may have their advantages. 1759 Franklin Ess. Wks. 1840 III. 343 Measures that might promote the public service at this critical conjuncture. 1870 Disraeli Lothair vii. 25 Such a conjuncture had never occurred. |
b. of time, affairs, etc.
| 1624 Ld. Kensington in Ellis Orig. Lett. i. III. 173 Very unseasonably in this conjuncture of tyme. 1768 Sterne Sent. Journ. (1778) II. 93 The Address, What is worse in the present conjuncture of affairs. 1812 Bp. Jebb in Corr. w. Knox II. 108 In the life of every man, there are providential conjunctures of time, place, and person, which are of infinite importance. 1853 Herschel Pop. Lect. Sc. i. §57 (1873) 45 Certain conjunctures of atmospheric or other circumstances. |
c. An astrological or astronomical conjunction.
| 1605 Verstegan Dec. Intell. iv. (1636) 100 This coniuncture to haue remained for some space after the great and generall deluge. 1668 Clarendon Tracts (1727) 558 Two several men born in the same conjuncture. 1812 Woodhouse Astron. xxiii. 241 There are conjunctures, when Venus eclipses part of the Sun's disk. |
3. quasi concr. † a. A conjoined or connected assemblage of things. Also fig. Obs.
| 1647 Jer. Taylor Lib. Proph. xi. 177 The Apostles were forc'd to unloose the whole conjuncture of parts and principles. 1655 ― Serm. (1678) 213 His purposes untwist as easily as the rude conjuncture of uncombining Cables in the violence of a Northern Tempest. |
† b. Something conjoined: an accessory. Obs.
| 1762 tr. Busching's Syst. Geog. III. 673 The arms..are..supposed to be the feril of a pilgrim's staff..to which are added a number of other conjunctures. |