critical

critical
crit•i•cal
[[t]ˈkrɪt ɪ kəl[/t]] adj.
1) inclined to find fault or to judge severely
2) occupied with or skilled in criticism
3) involving or requiring skillful judgment as to truth, merit, etc
4) of or pertaining to critics or criticism:
critical essays[/ex]
5) providing textual variants, proposed emendations, etc.:
a critical edition of Chaucer[/ex]
6) caused by or constituting a crisis:
a critical shortage of food[/ex]
7) of decisive importance; crucial
8) of essential importance; indispensable:
a critical ingredient[/ex]
9) med (of a patient's condition) having unstable and abnormal vital signs and one or more unfavorable indicators
10) phs Physics.
a) pertaining to a state, value, or quantity at which one or more properties of a substance or system change
b) of a quantity of fissionable material large enough to sustain a chain reaction
Etymology: 1580–90 crit′i•cal•ly, adv. crit`i•cal′i•ty, crit′i•cal•ness, n.

From formal English to slang. 2014.

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  • Critical — Crit ic*al (kr[i^]t [i^]*kal), a. [See {Critic}, n., {Crisis}.] [1913 Webster] 1. Qualified to criticise, or pass judgment upon, literary or artistic productions. [1913 Webster] It is submitted to the judgment of more critical ears to direct and… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • critical — UK US /ˈkrɪtɪkəl/ adjective ► extremely important to the progress or success of something: critical to/for sth »Logistics and distribution are critical to an e commerce venture s success. »Critical decisions need to be taken. »We see this as a… …   Financial and business terms

  • critical — 1 Critical, hypercritical, faultfinding, captious, caviling, carping, censorious are comparable when they mean exhibiting the spirit of one who detects and points out faults or defects. Critical, when applied to persons who judge and to their… …   New Dictionary of Synonyms

  • critical — [krit′i kəl] adj. 1. tending to find fault; censorious 2. characterized by careful analysis and judgment [a sound critical estimate of the problem] 3. of critics or criticism 4. of or forming a crisis or turning point; decisive 5. dangerous or… …   English World dictionary

  • critical — 1580s, censorious, from CRITIC (Cf. critic) + AL (Cf. al) (1). Meaning pertaining to criticism is from 1741; medical sense is from c.1600; meaning of the nature of a crisis is from 1640s; that of crucial is from 1841, from the decisive sense in L …   Etymology dictionary

  • critical — I (crucial) adjective acute, anceps, chief, climacteric, climactic, commanding, considerable, deciding, decisive, determining, dubius, essential, eventful, exigent, far reaching, fateful, foremost, grave, imperative, important, imposing, key,… …   Law dictionary

  • critical — [adj1] fault finding, detracting analytical, belittling, biting, calumniatory, captious, carping, caviling, cavillous, censorious, censuring, choleric, condemning, critic, cutting, cynical, demanding, demeaning, derogatory, diagnostic,… …   New thesaurus

  • critical — ► ADJECTIVE 1) expressing adverse or disapproving comments or judgements. 2) expressing or involving an analysis of the merits and faults of a literary or artistic work. 3) having a decisive importance in the success or failure of something;… …   English terms dictionary

  • critical — crit|i|cal W2S2 [ˈkrıtıkəl] adj ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ 1¦(criticizing)¦ 2¦(important)¦ 3¦(serious/worrying)¦ 4¦(ill)¦ 5 the critical list 6¦(making judgments)¦ 7¦(art/literature)¦ ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ 1.) ¦(CRITICIZING)¦ if you are critical, you criticize s …   Dictionary of contemporary English

  • critical — [[t]krɪ̱tɪk(ə)l[/t]] ♦♦ 1) ADJ GRADED A critical time, factor, or situation is extremely important. The incident happened at a critical point in the campaign... Environmentalists say a critical factor in the city s pollution is its population...… …   English dictionary

  • critical — adjective Date: 1547 1. a. of, relating to, or being a turning point or specially important juncture < a critical phase >: as (1) relating to or being the stage of a disease at which an abrupt change for better or worse may be expected; also… …   New Collegiate Dictionary

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