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definitions

crucial

[ kroo-shuhl ]
/ ˈkru ʃəl /
||
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adjective

involving an extremely important decision or result; decisive; critical: a crucial experiment.
severe; trying.
of the form of a cross; cross-shaped.

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RELATED WORDS

essentially, necessarily, imperatively

Nearby words

  1. crst syndrome,
  2. crt,
  3. crtc,
  4. cru,
  5. cruces,
  6. cruciality,
  7. crucially,
  8. crucian,
  9. crucian carp,
  10. cruciate

Origin of crucial

1700–10; < Latin cruci- (stem of crux) cross + -al1
Related forms
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for crucially

British Dictionary definitions for crucially

crucial

/ (ˈkruːʃəl) /

adjective

involving a final or supremely important decision or event; decisive; critical
informal very important
slang very good
Derived Formscrucially, adverb

Word Origin for crucial

C18: from French, from Latin crux cross
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for crucially

crucial

adj.

1706, "cross-shaped," from French crucial, a medical term for ligaments of the knee (which cross each other), from Latin crux (genitive crucis) "cross" (see cross (n.)). The meaning "decisive, critical" (1830) is extended from a logical term, Instantias Crucis, adopted by Francis Bacon (1620); the notion is of cross fingerboard signposts at forking roads, thus a requirement to choose.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper