critical
Americanadjective
-
inclined to find fault or to judge with severity, often too readily.
Parents who are too critical make their children anxious.
- Synonyms:
- carping , censorious , captious , faultfinding
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involving criticism, or skillful judgment as to truth, merit, etc..
The article provides a critical analysis of the Gulf War.
- Synonyms:
- precise , exact , judicious , discriminating
-
occupied with or skilled in criticism.
She was one of the great critical journalists of the 20th century.
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of or relating to critics or criticism, especially of literature, film, music, etc..
Critical appreciation of this author’s work has peaked in recent years.
-
providing textual variants, proposed emendations, etc..
The library has a new critical edition of Chaucer.
-
of the nature of a crisis; threatening a seriously bad outcome; grave.
There was a critical shortage of food.
-
of decisive importance with respect to the outcome; crucial.
The nation is facing a critical moment in its history.
-
Cocoa butter is a critical ingredient in chocolate.
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Medicine/Medical. having unstable and abnormal vital signs and other unfavorable indicators, as loss of appetite, poor mobility, or unconsciousness.
The patient has been upgraded from critical to stable.
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Physics.
-
pertaining to a state, value, or quantity at which one or more properties of a substance or system undergo a change.
The critical temperature of benzene is 289° C.
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(of fissionable material) having enough mass to sustain a chain reaction.
They told us about a lab where some plutonium went critical.
-
adjective
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containing or making severe or negative judgments
-
containing careful or analytical evaluations
a critical dissertation
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of or involving a critic or criticism
-
of or forming a crisis; crucial; decisive
a critical operation
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urgently needed
critical medical supplies
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informal so seriously injured or ill as to be in danger of dying
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physics of, denoting, or concerned with a state in which the properties of a system undergo an abrupt change
a critical temperature
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(of a nuclear power station or reactor) to reach a state in which a nuclear-fission chain reaction becomes self-sustaining
Other Word Forms
- anticritical adjective
- criticality noun
- critically adverb
- criticalness noun
- noncritical adjective
- pseudocritical adjective
Etymology
Origin of critical
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
“It is a critical part of our industry,” he said.
As competition intensifies to create the first reliable, large-scale commercial quantum computer, a critical issue has become harder to ignore.
From Science Daily
The Toulouse, France-based company had warned that intense solar radiation may corrupt data critical to the functioning of flight controls.
From MarketWatch
The Toulouse, France-based company had warned that intense solar radiation may corrupt data critical to the functioning of flight controls.
From MarketWatch
That uptick has arrived as Young approaches a critical juncture in his young career.
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
