crux

[kruhks]

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noun, plural crux·es, cru·ces [kroo-seez] /ˈkru siz/.

a vital, basic, decisive, or pivotal point: The crux of the trial was his whereabouts at the time of the murder.

a cross.

something that torments by its puzzling nature; a perplexing difficulty.

Origin of crux

1635–45; < Latin: stake, scaffold, or cross used in executions, torment; figurative senses perhaps < New Latin crux (interpretum) (commentators') torment, a difficult passage in a text; cf. crucial

Synonyms for crux

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1. essence, heart, core, gist.

Crux

[kruhks]

noun, genitive Cru·cis [kroo-sis] /ˈkru sɪs/. Astronomy.

Southern Cross.

Origin of Crux

< Latin: a cross

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for crux

core, nub, gist, essence, body, kernel, substance, meat, purport, nitty-gritty, heart, pith, thrust, matter

Examples from the Web for crux

Contemporary Examples of crux

The crux of the problem remains on this side of the Pacific.
Obama and Xi Jinping Say They’ll Work Together to Save Environment
Ben Leung
November 12, 2014
The crux of the matter is not the date of the next elections, but ensuring that elections are free, fair, and clean.
Thailand: Into the Void
Lennox Samuels
March 21, 2014
That, he says, is at the crux of why Pope Francis wants to train more exorcists.
Vatican and Pope Francis Seek New Demon Exorcists
Barbie Latza Nadeau
January 8, 2014
And yet, despite the banter, the crux of the issue is the feasibility of it all.
IVF for Just $300 Could Be a Reality Soon
Randi Hutter Epstein
August 31, 2013
The crux is new representation: of body, of proportion, of aesthetic ideals.
Monsters of Fashion Exhibition Opens in Paris
Sarah Moroz
February 20, 2013

Historical Examples of crux

"That 'somehow' is the crux, my dear Livia," said Mrs. Sinclair.
The Cook's Decameron: A Study in Taste:
Mrs. W. G. Waters
Absolute and perfect union is possible only at the center, the crux, of Being.
Sex=The Unknown Quantity
Ali Nomad
Here, in truth, lies the crux of the greatest problem of all.
Socialism
John Spargo
At Skulltree was the crux of the situation, as Flagg had insisted, ragefully.
Joan of Arc of the North Woods
Holman Day
This is the crux of the hypnotic dilemma and the answer is far from solved.
A Practical Guide to Self-Hypnosis
Melvin Powers

British Dictionary definitions for crux

crux

noun plural cruxes or cruces (ˈkruːsiːz)

a vital or decisive stage, point, etc (often in the phrase the crux of the matter)

a baffling problem or difficulty

mountaineering the most difficult and often decisive part of a climb or pitch

a rare word for cross

Word Origin for crux

C18: from Latin: cross

Crux

noun Latin genitive Crucis (ˈkruːsɪs)

the more formal name for the Southern 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 crux

1814, "cross," from Latin crux "cross" (see cross (n.)). Figurative use for "a central difficulty," is older, from 1718; perhaps from Latin crux interpretum "a point in a text that is impossible to interpret," in which the literal sense is something like "crossroads of interpreters." Extended sense of "central point" is from 1888.

crux in Medicine

crux

[krŭks, kruks]

n. pl. crux•es

A cross or a crosslike structure.