'Critical' definitions:
Definition of 'critical'
From: WordNet
adjective
Marked by a tendency to find and call attention to errors and flaws; "a critical attitude" [ant: uncritical]
adjective
At or of a point at which a property or phenomenon suffers an abrupt change especially having enough mass to sustain a chain reaction; "a critical temperature of water is 100 degrees C--its boiling point at standard atmospheric pressure"; "critical mass"; "go critical" [ant: noncritical]
adjective
Characterized by careful evaluation and judgment; "a critical reading"; "a critical dissertation"; "a critical analysis of Melville's writings" [ant: noncritical, uncritical]
adjective
Urgently needed; absolutely necessary; "a critical element of the plan"; "critical medical supplies"; "vital for a healthy society"; "of vital interest" [syn: critical, vital]
adjective
Forming or having the nature of a turning point or crisis; "a critical point in the campaign"; "the critical test" [syn: critical, decisive]
adjective
Being in or verging on a state of crisis or emergency; "a critical shortage of food"; "a critical illness"; "an illness at the critical stage" [ant: noncritical, noncrucial]
adjective
Of or involving or characteristic of critics or criticism; "critical acclaim"
Definition of 'Critical'
From: GCIDE
- Critical \Crit"ic*al\ (kr[i^]t"[i^]*kal), a. [See Critic, n., Crisis.] [1913 Webster]
- 1. Qualified to criticise, or pass judgment upon, literary or artistic productions. [1913 Webster]
- It is submitted to the judgment of more critical ears to direct and determine what is graceful and what is not. --Holder. [1913 Webster]
- 2. Pertaining to criticism or the critic's art; of the nature of a criticism; accurate; as, critical knowledge; a critical dissertation. [1913 Webster]
- 3. Inclined to make nice distinctions, or to exercise careful judgment and selection; exact; nicely judicious. [1913 Webster]
- Virgil was so critical in the rites of religion, that he would never have brought in such prayers as these, if they had not been agreeable to the Roman customs. --Bp. Stillingfleet. [1913 Webster]
- 4. Inclined to criticise or find fault; fastidious; captious; censorious; exacting. [1913 Webster]
- O gentle lady, do not put me to 't, For I am nothing, if not critical. --Shak. [1913 Webster]
- 5. Characterized by thoroughness and a reference to principles, as becomes a critic; as, a critical analysis of a subject. [1913 Webster]
- 6. [See Crisis.] Pertaining to, or indicating, a crisis, turning point, or specially important juncture; important as regards consequences; hence, of doubtful issue; attended with risk; dangerous; as, the critical stage of a fever; a critical situation. [1913 Webster]
- Our circumstances are indeed critical. --Burke. [1913 Webster]
- The small moment, the exact point, the critical minute, on which every good work so much depends. --South. [1913 Webster]
- Critical angle (Optics), that angle of incidence of a luminous ray at which it is wholly reflected, and no portion of it transmitted. The sine of this angle is the reciprocal of the refractive index of the medium.
- Critical philosophy, the metaphysical system of Kant; -- so called from his most important work, the "Critique of Pure Reason." [1913 Webster]
Synonyms of 'critical'
From: Moby Thesaurus
- abstruse,
- accurate,
- acute,
- alarming,
- allegorizing,
- annotative,
- appreciative,
- arduous,
- attentive,
- bad,
- basic,
- belittling,
- brutal,
- captious,
- carping,
- caviling,
- censorious,
- charged,
- choicy,
- choosy,
- clamorous,
- clarifying,
- climacteric,
- close,
- commentative,
- commentatorial,
- compelling,
- complex,
- conclusive,
- conscientious,
- consequential,
- correct,
- critic,
- crucial,
- crying,
- cynical,
- dangerous,
- dangersome,
- decisive,
- delicate,
- demanding,
- demeaning,
- demonstrative,
- demythologizing,
- deprecating,
- deprecative,
- deprecatory,
- depreciating,
- depreciative,
- depreciatory,
- desperate,
- detailed,
- determinative,
- differential,
- difficile,
- difficult,
- dire,
- discerning,
- discoursive,
- discriminate,
- discriminating,
- discriminative,
- disparaging,
- disquisitional,
- dissertational,
- distinctive,
- distinguishing,
- editorial,
- elucidative,
- emergent,
- enlightening,
- essayistic,
- essential,
- euhemeristic,
- exact,
- exacting,
- exegetic,
- exemplificative,
- exigent,
- explaining,
- explanatory,
- explicative,
- explicatory,
- explosive,
- expositive,
- expositorial,
- expository,
- exquisite,
- fastidious,
- faultfinding,
- fine,
- finical,
- finicking,
- finicky,
- formidable,
- fraught with danger,
- fussy,
- glossarial,
- grave,
- hairsplitting,
- hairy,
- hard,
- hard-earned,
- hard-fought,
- Herculean,
- high-pressure,
- high-priority,
- humbling,
- hypercritical,
- illuminating,
- illuminative,
- illustrative,
- imperative,
- imperious,
- important,
- insistent,
- instant,
- intricate,
- jawbreaking,
- jeopardous,
- judgemental,
- judgmental,
- judicative,
- judicial,
- judiciary,
- judicious,
- juridic,
- juristic,
- kairotic,
- key,
- knotted,
- knotty,
- laborious,
- loaded,
- lowering,
- mean,
- menacing,
- meticulous,
- minute,
- momentous,
- monographic,
- nagging,
- narrow,
- nice,
- niggling,
- no picnic,
- not easy,
- on slippery ground,
- on thin ice,
- operose,
- overcritical,
- parlous,
- particular,
- penetrating,
- perfectionistic,
- periculous,
- perilous,
- pettifogging,
- picky,
- pivotal,
- precarious,
- precise,
- precisianistic,
- precisionistic,
- pregnant,
- pressing,
- priggish,
- prudish,
- punctilious,
- punctual,
- puristic,
- puritanic,
- quibbling,
- rationalistic,
- rationalizing,
- refined,
- religious,
- rigid,
- rigorous,
- rough,
- rugged,
- scholiastic,
- scrupulous,
- scrutinizing,
- selective,
- sensitive,
- serious,
- set with thorns,
- severe,
- significant,
- slippery,
- slippy,
- spiny,
- steep,
- strenuous,
- strict,
- subtle,
- tactful,
- thorny,
- threatening,
- ticklish,
- toilsome,
- touch-and-go,
- touchy,
- tough,
- trichoschistic,
- tricky,
- ugly,
- ultracritical,
- uncertain,
- uphill,
- urgent,
- vital,
- weighty,
- wicked
Words containing 'Critical'
- Critic,
- Critically,
- Criticalness,
- Criticism,
- criticality,
- criticize,
- Critical angle,
- Critical philosophy,
- Higher criticism,
- art critic,
- critical analysis,
- critical appraisal,
- critical mass,
- critical point,
- critical review,
- critical temperature,
- drama critic,
- historical criticism,
- literary critic,
- literary criticism,
- lower criticism,
- music critic,
- new criticism,
- newspaper critic,
- petty criticism,
- textual criticism,
- theater critic,
- self-criticism