critical en · ADJ
Pronunciation
- /ˈkɹɪt.ɪ.kəl/ (UK)
- /ˈkɹɪt.ɪ.kəl/ (US)
- (US) audio
- [ˈkɹɪɾ.ɪ.kəl] (US)
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *krey- Proto-Indo-European *-n- Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *krinyéti Proto-Hellenic *kríňňō Ancient Greek κρῑ́νω (krī́nō) Ancient Greek κρῐ- (krĭ-) Proto-Hellenic *-tās Ancient Greek -τής (-tḗs) Ancient Greek κρῐτής (krĭtḗs) Proto-Indo-European *-kos Proto-Hellenic *-kos Ancient Greek -κός (-kós) Ancient Greek -ῐκός (-ĭkós) Ancient Greek κριτικός (kritikós)bor. Latin criticus Proto-Indo-European *h₂el- Proto-Indo-European *-is Proto-Indo-European *h₂élisder.? Proto-Italic *-ālis Latin -ālisbor. Old French -albor. ▲ Latin -ālis Old French -elbor. ▲ Latin -ālisbor. Middle English -al English -al English critical From Latin criticus + English -al.
Meanings
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Inclined to find fault or criticize.
A good teacher is fair but critical.
Let us go back to the beginning and consider what the charge is that has made people so critical of me, and has encouraged Meletus to draw up this indictment.
1993, Plato, translated by Hugh Tredennick and Harold Tarrant, “Justice and Duty (i): Socrates Speaks at his Trial: the Apology”, in The Last Days of Socrates (Penguin Classics), revised edition, London; New York, N.Y.: Penguin Books, →ISBN, page 39:
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Pertaining to, or indicating, a crisis or turning point.
Such a scandal as the prosecution of a brother for forgery—with a verdict of guilty—is a most truly horrible, deplorable, fatal thing. It takes the respectability out of a family perhaps at a critical moment, when the family is just assuming the robes of respectability: […] it is a black spot which all the soaps ever advertised could never wash off.
1892, Walter Besant, “Prologue: Who is Edmund Gray?”, in The Ivory Gate […], New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], →OCLC:This is a critical moment.
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Extremely important.
Oxygen levels on Earth skyrocketed 2.4 billion years ago, when cyanobacteria evolved photosynthesis:[…]. The evolutionary precursor of photosynthesis is still under debate, and a new study sheds light. The critical component of the photosynthetic system is the “water-oxidizing complex”, made up of manganese atoms and a calcium atom.
2013 September-October, Katie L. Burke, “In the News”, in American Scientist:Third Pole glaciers are critical to billions of people from Vietnam to Afghanistan.
2018, VOA Learning English > China's Melting Glacier Brings Visitors, Adds to Climate Concerns:It's critical that you deliver this on time.
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Relating to criticism or careful analysis, such as literary or film criticism.
“Unless you are purchasing cereal from a health food store, many brands that are marketed as healthy are usually full of sugar and processed ingredients,” says Garcia. So when you’re choosing cereal, bread or any other whole-grain product, Garcia recommends reading labels with a critical eye.
2012 April 19, Alexandra Sifferlin, “‘Healthy’ Foods that Really Aren’t: Nutritionists Weigh In”, in Time, archived from the original on 12 Oct 2022:The movie was a critical success, but bombed at the box-office.
- Relating to criticism or careful analysis, such as literary or film criticism. ▸ Employing or related to textual criticism, particularly through a stemmatological comparison of all extant texts and reconstruction of the original.
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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.
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(broadly) In such a condition.
Two critical after fatal Wimbledon school crash
The patient is critical.
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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.
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Of the point (in temperature, reagent concentration etc.) where a nuclear or chemical reaction becomes self-sustaining.
The reaction was about to become critical.
- Of a temperature that is equal to the temperature of the critical point of a substance, i.e. the temperature above which the substance cannot be liquefied.
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Needing great discrimination to be correctly classified; easily confused.
critical plants
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| most critical | Degree=Sup | lexicographic | |
| more critical | Degree=Cmp | lexicographic |
Coordinates
Deriveds
quasicritical · critical race theory · intercritical · sociocritical · critical dissonance · critical success factor · critical incident stress management · subcritical · gender critical · critical condition · critical tide level · critical apparatus · uncritical · crifanac · historical-critical · criticality · non-critical · gynocritical · critical reception · critical illness · hypercritical · geocritical · critically · critical load · noncritical · bicritical · precritical · critical function · unicritical · delayed critical · supracritical · tricritical · critical taper · neocritical · critical commentary · gender-critical feminist · metacritical · gender-critical · tetracritical · safety-critical · critical point · anticritical · criticalness · acritical · critical philosophy · neurocritical · biocritical · prompt critical · critical opalescence · critical mass · critical altitude · postcritical · critical rationalism · cricondentherm · overcritical · paranoiac-critical · life-critical · Critical Mass · critical angle · ecocritical · critical care · transcritical · autocritical · critical ward · critical thinking · critical brain hypothesis · critical support · critical period · antecritical · gender-critical feminism · accelerated critical illness · technocritical · critical point drying · ethnocritical · time-critical · critical applied linguistics · historicocritical · ultracritical · critical path · Eurocritical · critical section · pseudocritical · critical Reynolds number · business-critical · supercritical · critical hit · critical micelle concentration · critical temperature · on the critical list · semicritical · mission-critical · form-critical · self-critical · multicritical · critical theory · critical exponent
Relateds
Synonyms
judgmental · crucial · fastidious · slashing · censorious · exacting · captious · imperative
Translations (154)
fr critique (inclined to find fault) · ru реши́тельный (extremely important) · it critico (likely to go wrong) · ja 危うい (medicine: involving unstable vital signs) · sk kritický (likely to go wrong) · es crítico (extremely important) · de Kritiker- (relating to criticism) · th เกี่ยวกับการวิจารณ์ (relating to criticism) · sk kritický (inclined to find fault) · de unerlässlich (extremely important) · fi arvostelu- (relating to criticism) · sv kritisk (inclined to find fault) · hu kritikai (relating to criticism) · ja 危殆な (pertaining to or indicating a crisis) · la sonticus (extremely important) · uk крити́чний (inclined to find fault) · hy քննական (relating to criticism) · hu kritikus (pertaining to or indicating a crisis) · ko 비판적 (relating to criticism) · nl kritiek (extremely important) · pl arcyważny (extremely important) · it critico (inclined to find fault) · bg преломен (pertaining to or indicating a crisis) · es crítico (inclined to find fault) · ca crític (extremely important) · tr kritik (pertaining to or indicating a crisis) · it determinante (extremely important) · br eizik (extremely important) · hu kritikus (medicine: involving unstable vital signs) · fi kriittinen (of temperature) · es coyuntural (extremely important) · de entscheidend (pertaining to or indicating a crisis) · de kritisch (inclined to find fault) · ru крити́ческий (relating to criticism) · es crítico (of the point where a reaction becomes self-sustaining) · ga criticiúil (relating to criticism) · nl kritiek (likely to go wrong) · bg решителен (extremely important) · id kritis (inclined to find fault) · ru приди́рчивый (inclined to find fault) · el κρίσιμος (medicine: involving unstable vital signs) · fa ایرادگیر (inclined to find fault) · hu kritikus (extremely important) · ga criticiúil (of the point where a reaction becomes self-sustaining) · ja 危殆な (medicine: involving unstable vital signs) · scn crìticu (pertaining to or indicating a crisis) · cs kritický (of the point where a reaction becomes self-sustaining) · id kritis (pertaining to or indicating a crisis) · ru перело́мный (pertaining to or indicating a crisis) · fi kriittinen (of the point where a reaction becomes self-sustaining) · is krítískur (medicine: involving unstable vital signs) · ja 危ない (medicine: involving unstable vital signs) · fi kriittinen (pertaining to or indicating a crisis) · th สำคัญอย่างยิ่ง (extremely important) · sh prijélomnī (pertaining to or indicating a crisis) · uk крити́чний (relating to criticism) · fi äärimmäisen tärkeä (extremely important) · bg много важен (extremely important) · ru крити́ческий (pertaining to or indicating a crisis) · es clave (extremely important) · de unverzichtbar (extremely important) · sk dôležitý (extremely important) · de wichtig (extremely important) · mi kakawa (inclined to find fault) · fr critique (of the point where a reaction becomes self-sustaining) · eo kriza (extremely important) · es crítico (relating to criticism) · sk kritický (medicine: involving unstable vital signs) · fi arvosteleva (inclined to find fault) · el κριτικός (relating to criticism) · nl kritisch (inclined to find fault) · th ชอบจับผิด (inclined to find fault) · de unabdingbar (extremely important) · nl kritisch (relating to criticism) · pt crítico (extremely important) · br eizik (of the point where a reaction becomes self-sustaining) · bg придиращ (inclined to find fault) · el κρίσιμος (likely to go wrong) · fi kriittinen (likely to go wrong) · es álgido (pertaining to or indicating a crisis) · sl kritičnem (medicine: involving unstable vital signs) · el κρίσιμος (extremely important) · bg критичен (relating to criticism) · fi kritisoiva (inclined to find fault) · fa بحرانی (pertaining to or indicating a crisis) · ga beachtaíoch (inclined to find fault) · ca crític (inclined to find fault) · th ขั้นวิกฤต (medicine: involving unstable vital signs) · de entscheidend (extremely important) · de wesentlich (extremely important) · sv kritisk (medicine: involving unstable vital signs) · it delicato (pertaining to or indicating a crisis) · cmn 关键的 (extremely important) · th ภาวะวิกฤติ (pertaining to or indicating a crisis) · it critico (of temperature) · de kritisch (medicine: involving unstable vital signs) · th วิกฤต (likely to go wrong) · hu válságos (pertaining to or indicating a crisis) · pt crítico (inclined to find fault) · uk крити́чний (pertaining to or indicating a crisis) · sk kritický (extremely important) · ca crític (relating to criticism) · ja 危うい (pertaining to or indicating a crisis) · fi kriittinen (medicine: involving unstable vital signs) · de bedenklich (medicine: involving unstable vital signs) · sk kritický (relating to criticism) · ja 危ない (pertaining to or indicating a crisis) · hu kritikus (likely to go wrong) · de kritisch (of the point where a reaction becomes self-sustaining) · th หัวเลี้ยวหัวต่อ (of the point where a reaction becomes self-sustaining) · it incerto (pertaining to or indicating a crisis) · cs kritický (inclined to find fault) · ca crític (likely to go wrong) · hu kritikus (of the point where a reaction becomes self-sustaining) · sk kritický (of the point where a reaction becomes self-sustaining) · it essenziale (extremely important) · es trascendental (extremely important) · ko 비판적 (inclined to find fault) · hu kritikus (inclined to find fault) · nl kritiek (of the point where a reaction becomes self-sustaining) · kk аумалы (of the point where a reaction becomes self-sustaining) · hu bíráló (inclined to find fault) · fi kriittinen (inclined to find fault) · de Kritik- (relating to criticism) · sk rozhodujúci (pertaining to or indicating a crisis) · de kritisch (pertaining to or indicating a crisis) · ja 批判的な (inclined to find fault) · grc κρίσιμος (extremely important) · it critico (of the point where a reaction becomes self-sustaining) · it critico (pertaining to or indicating a crisis) · scn crìticu (inclined to find fault) · nl kritiek (pertaining to or indicating a crisis) · id kritis (medicine: involving unstable vital signs) · ru крити́ческий (extremely important) · fa حیاتی (extremely important) · sk kritický (of temperature) · km ដែលរកតែកំហុស (inclined to find fault) · ga breithiúnach (inclined to find fault) · bg критичен (of the point where a reaction becomes self-sustaining) · it critico (medicine: involving unstable vital signs) · it fondamentale (extremely important) · ga cáinteach (relating to criticism) · kk сыншыл (relating to criticism) · fa عیبجو (inclined to find fault) · el κρίσιμος (pertaining to or indicating a crisis) · sk kritický (pertaining to or indicating a crisis) · fa انتقادی (relating to criticism) · uk крити́чний (extremely important) · ca crític (pertaining to or indicating a crisis) · kk сыни (relating to criticism) · ar النقد (inclined to find fault) · he ביקורתי (inclined to find fault) · el επικριτικός (inclined to find fault) · ca crític (of the point where a reaction becomes self-sustaining)