Critical
Contents
English
Adjective
Critical (comparative more Critical, superlative most Critical)
- Inclined to find fault or criticize; fastidious; captious; censorious; exacting.
- A good teacher is fair but critical.
- Pertaining to, or indicating, a crisis or turning point.
- This is a critical moment.
- Extremely important.
- It's critical that you deliver this on time.
- Relating to criticism or careful analysis, such as literary or film criticism.
- The movie was a critical success, but bombed at the box-office.
- (medicine) Of a patient condition involving unstable vital signs and a prognosis that predicts the condition could worsen; or, a patient condition that requires urgent treatment in an intensive care or critical care medical facility.
- The patient's condition is critical.
- Likely to go out of control if disturbed, that is, opposite of stable.
- The political situation was so critical that the government declared the state of siege.
- Of the point (in temperature, reagent concentration etc.) where a nuclear or chemical reaction becomes self-sustaining.
- The reaction was about to become critical.
Derived terms
Related terms
Adverbs for Critical
facetiously; astutely; generously; penetratingly; ingeniously; unsparingly; exactingly; fastidiously; crabbedly; bitterly; vigorously; judiciously; aggressively; ignorantly; thoughtfully; clumsily; gracelessly; creatively; viciously; haughtily; persistently; constructively; alertly; fearlessly; courageously; impartially; gravely; captiously; mercilessly, malevolently; conscientiously; keenly; authoritatively; tolerantly; ably; caustically; disagreeably; obnoxiously; unpleasantly.
Thesaurus
Herculean, abstruse, accurate, acute, alarming, allegorizing, annotative, appreciative, arduous, attentive, bad, basic, belittling, brutal, captious, carping, caviling, censorious, charged, choicy, choosy, clamorous, clarifying, climacteric, close, commentative, commentatorial, compelling, complex, conclusive, conscientious, consequential, correct, critic, crucial, crying, cynical, dangerous, dangersome, decisive, delicate, demanding, demeaning, demonstrative, demythologizing, deprecating, deprecative, deprecatory, depreciating, depreciative, depreciatory, desperate, detailed, determinative, differential, difficile, difficult, dire, discerning, discoursive, discriminate, discriminating, discriminative, disparaging, disquisitional, dissertational, distinctive, distinguishing, editorial, elucidative, emergent, enlightening, essayistic, essential, euhemeristic, exact, exacting, exegetic, exemplificative, exigent, explaining, explanatory, explicative, explicatory, explosive, expositive, expositorial, expository, exquisite, fastidious, faultfinding, fine, finical, finicking, finicky, formidable, fraught with danger, fussy, glossarial, grave, hairsplitting, hairy, hard, hard-earned, hard-fought, high-pressure, high-priority, humbling, hypercritical, illuminating, illuminative, illustrative, imperative, imperious, important, insistent, instant, intricate, jawbreaking, jeopardous, judgemental, judgmental, judicative, judicial, judiciary, judicious, juridic, juristic, kairotic, key, knotted, knotty, laborious, loaded, lowering, mean, menacing, meticulous, minute, momentous, monographic, nagging, narrow, nice, niggling, no picnic, not easy, on slippery ground, on thin ice, operose, overcritical, parlous, particular, penetrating, perfectionistic, periculous, perilous, pettifogging, picky, pivotal, precarious, precise, precisianistic, precisionistic, pregnant, pressing, priggish, prudish, punctilious, punctual, puristic, puritanic, quibbling, rationalistic, rationalizing, refined, religious, rigid, rigorous, rough, rugged, scholiastic, scrupulous, scrutinizing, selective, sensitive, serious, set with thorns, severe, significant, slippery, slippy, spiny, steep, strenuous, strict, subtle, tactful, thorny, threatening, ticklish, toilsome, touch-and-go, touchy, tough, trichoschistic, tricky, ugly, ultracritical, uncertain, uphill, urgent, vital, weighty, wicked
Etymology
From the suffix -al and Latin criticus < Ancient Greek κριτικός (kritikos, “of or for judging, able to discern”) < κρίνω (krinō, “I separate, judge”), also the root of crisis).
Pronunciation
Translations
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- The translations below need to be checked.
See also
- 15px Critical on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
- 15px Medical state on Wikipedia.Wikipedia:Medical state
External links
- Critical in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
- Critical in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911
- Critical at OneLook Dictionary Search
