crucial
Americanadjective
-
involving an extremely important decision or result; decisive; critical.
a crucial experiment.
- Synonyms:
- significant, essential, vital, momentous
-
severe; trying.
-
of the form of a cross; cross-shaped.
adjective
-
involving a final or supremely important decision or event; decisive; critical
-
informal very important
-
slang very good
Usage
What does crucial mean? Crucial means extremely important or involving an extremely important decision or course of action. Close synonyms are critical and decisive.The word crucial is usually used to describe pivotal moments, choices, or actions that will affect everything that follows, as in We’re at a crucial point in the process—we need to make some big decisions. Sometimes, crucial is simply used to describe something that’s extremely important, as in Getting enough sleep is crucial for staying healthy. Example: I can’t express how absolutely crucial it is to surround yourself with the right friends.
Other Word Forms
- cruciality noun
- crucially adverb
- noncrucial adjective
- noncrucially adverb
- precrucial adjective
Etymology
Origin of crucial
First recorded in 1700–10; from Latin cruci- (stem of crux cross ( def. ) ) + -al 1 ( def. )
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.
"A lot of people my age have lost crucial years of their life and developing life skills," says Thompson.
From BBC
"When we got up their end we knew it was crucial to come away with points and we did that throughout the whole game," Lonergan said.
From Barron's
The teams traded points after that until Canada struck a crucial blow in the penultimate end.
From Barron's
Wing Josh Adams made a couple of important early interventions with a crucial tackle on Scotland centre Huw Jones followed by a vital interception.
From BBC
High-precision analog chips are used to process physical signals with extreme accuracy, and have become crucial for improving energy efficiency in data centers.
From MarketWatch
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.
