crux
noun
a vital, basic, decisive, or pivotal point.
Jump To:
crux
1 American
[kruhks]
/ krʌks /
Crux
2
American
[kruhks]
/ krʌks /
noun
Astronomy.
-
Crucis
genitive
crux
1
British
/ krʌks /
noun
-
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
Crux
2
British
/ krʌks /
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of crux1
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
Origin of Crux2
< Latin: a cross
Explanation
The essential point or problem is the crux. People are always trying to get to the crux of a matter or the crux of a problem, while others try to distract them. The noun crux is often followed by the phrases "of the matter" or "of the problem." When people are trying to identify the crux of something, it's like they want to get to the heart of it. They want to peel back the layers and find out what something is really all about or what is causing the problem. No more beating around the bush!
Vocabulary lists containing crux
This Week In Words: January 18–24, 2020
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
Okay for Now
Interested in learning more words like this one? Our team at Vocabulary.com has got you covered! You can review flashcards, quiz yourself, practice spelling, and more – and it's all completely free to use!
Mark Strand (1934-2014) Tribute List
Want to remember this word for good? Start your learning journey today with our library of interactive, themed word lists built by the experts at Vocabulary.com – we'll help you make the most of your study time!
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.
See Examples For:
The crux was a proposal to introduce a bill to parliament to impose sanctions on energy firms planning to begin oil exploration off the Falklands.
From BBC ● Sep. 4, 2026
Last year, with her second LP “The Art of Loving,” Dean became the latest British woman to earn global fame at the crux of old-soul balladry and modern pop panache.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 15, 2026
The crux lies in what counts as a financial adviser.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 6, 2026
That role—dubbed “the person in the loop”—is at the crux of fears about combat automation.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 19, 2026
Six weeks of listening to Francis had made me realize that the crux of the matter was whether Rosy’s new X-ray pictures would lend any support for a helical DNA structure.
From "Double Helix" by James D. Watson
"In Latin, this constellation is called Crux, the Southern Cross, which points toward the southernmost region of the planet, where Kank was discovered."
From Science Daily ● May 29, 2026
Crux Capital, an early-stage venture capital fund, also decided to build a custom CRM after struggling to find SaaS offerings that fit its needs.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 4, 2026
“Yesterday the news that Elon Musk is going to be the first trillionaire in the world,” the pope said in an September interview with Crux.
From Salon ● Nov. 7, 2025
"There are electronic jammers to make sure that phone and wi-fi signals are not getting in or out," said John Allen, the editor of Crux news site.
From BBC ● May 5, 2025
The Current was quick, and she didn’t have the double gun decks and the heavy artillery of the Crux.
From "The Reader" by Traci Chee
In "Memories and Portraits," Stevenson says: "A good serious play must be founded on one of the passionate cruces of life, where duty and inclination come nobly to the grapple."
From Writing for Vaudeville by Brett Page
The sterility of hybrids has been always considered one of the great cruces in connection with any theory of Evolution.
From Selections from Previous Works and Remarks on Romanes' Mental Evolution in Animals by Samuel Butler
This is one of the textual cruces of the play.
From The New Hudson Shakespeare: Julius Cæsar by Ebenezer Charlton Black
The comparative accuracy of this outline, so incredibly good as mere guesswork, must remain one of the chief cruces of Mediæval geography.
From The Chronicle of the Discovery and Conquest of Guinea Vol. II by Gomes Eannes de Zurara
Good wine and sound ale have their uses, To distinguish 'twixt which and abuses The clear-headed want; But illogical cant Will ne'er solve our worst social cruces.
From Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 101, September 26, 1891 by Various
One of the cruxes of sleep hygiene is consistency.
From Salon ● Mar. 2, 2022
That’s why Rana’s lawsuit cruxes on Amazon’s algorithms, apps, and devices that Amazon uses to micromanage its workers.
From The Verge ● Nov. 14, 2021
The students’ argument in court, which is a part of the Xiaocheng Cup Public Welfare Litigation Competition, cruxes on this premise.
From The Verge ● Oct. 27, 2021
His ferociously annotated versions of the Pentateuch and of the Psalms chaperone the Hebrew-less reader through many dense cruxes.
From The New Yorker ● Jan. 4, 2016
There were all sorts of legal cruxes to be thought out, not only regarding the taking of life, even of a monstrosity in human form, but also of property.
From Lair of the White Worm by Bram Stoker
Faithful hold candles during a Via Crucis torchlight procession in Rome.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 4, 2024
The annual Via Crucis event on Good Friday at the Colosseum consists of the 14 Stations of the Cross, stages between the condemnation of Jesus to death and his burial.
From Reuters ● Apr. 13, 2022
In the Vatican, Pope Francis presided over the Via Crucis or Way of the Cross ceremony in a barren St. Peter’s Square.
From Washington Times ● Apr. 6, 2021
In 2017, Pueblo Sin Fronteras took the Via Crucis a step further, organizing several hundred migrants to travel from near the Guatemala border all the way to the United States.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 6, 2018
It has been a great delight thus to tread the Via Crucis, which is also the Via Lucis—the Way of the Cross, which is the Way of Life, and Light, and Love.
From Love to the Uttermost Expositions of John XIII.-XXI. by F. B. (Frederick Brotherton) Meyer
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.
