| / English Dictionary |
CRITICAL
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (adjective)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Marked by a tendency to find and call attention to errors and flaws
Example:
a critical attitude
Classified under:
Similar:
captious; faultfinding (tending to find and call attention to faults)
censorious (harshly critical or expressing censure)
deprecative (given to expressing disapproval)
hypercritical; overcritical (inclined to judge too severely)
searing (severely critical)
scathing; vituperative (marked by harshly abusive criticism)
Also:
unfavorable; unfavourable (not encouraging or approving or pleasing)
sarcastic (expressing or expressive of ridicule that wounds)
Antonym:
uncritical (not critical; not tending to find or call attention to errors)
Derivation:
critic (someone who frequently finds fault or makes harsh and unfair judgments)
criticism (disapproval expressed by pointing out faults or shortcomings)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Characterized by careful evaluation and judgment
Example:
a critical analysis of Melville's writings
Classified under:
Similar:
appraising; evaluative (exercising or involving careful evaluations)
discriminative; judicial (expressing careful judgment)
Also:
scholarly (characteristic of scholars or scholarship)
discerning (having or revealing keen insight and good judgment)
Antonym:
uncritical (marked by disregard for critical standards or procedures)
Derivation:
critic (anyone who expresses a reasoned judgment of something)
criticism (a serious examination and judgment of something)
Sense 3
Meaning:
Being in or verging on a state of crisis or emergency
Example:
an illness at the critical stage
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
acute (of critical importance and consequence)
dangerous; grave; grievous; life-threatening; serious; severe (causing fear or anxiety by threatening great harm)
desperate; dire (fraught with extreme danger; nearly hopeless)
Also:
crucial; important (of extreme importance; vital to the resolution of a crisis)
Attribute:
crisis (an unstable situation of extreme danger or difficulty)
Antonym:
noncritical (not in a state of crisis or emergency)
Derivation:
criticality; criticalness (a state of critical urgency)
Sense 4
Meaning:
At or of a point at which a property or phenomenon suffers an abrupt change especially having enough mass to sustain a chain reaction
Example:
go critical
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
supercritical ((especially of fissionable material) able to sustain a chain reaction in such a manner that the rate of reaction increases)
Attribute:
criticality (a critical state; especially the point at which a nuclear reaction is self-sustaining)
Domain category:
chemical science; chemistry (the science of matter; the branch of the natural sciences dealing with the composition of substances and their properties and reactions)
natural philosophy; physics (the science of matter and energy and their interactions)
Antonym:
noncritical (not critical; not at a point of abrupt change)
Derivation:
criticality (a critical state; especially the point at which a nuclear reaction is self-sustaining)
Sense 5
Meaning:
Forming or having the nature of a turning point or crisis
Example:
the critical test
Synonyms:
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
crucial; important (of extreme importance; vital to the resolution of a crisis)
Derivation:
crisis (a crucial stage or turning point in the course of something)
crisis (an unstable situation of extreme danger or difficulty)
criticalness (a state of critical urgency)
Sense 6
Meaning:
Urgently needed; absolutely necessary
Example:
of vital interest
Synonyms:
critical; vital
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
indispensable (not to be dispensed with; essential)
Derivation:
criticality; criticalness (a state of critical urgency)
Sense 7
Meaning:
Of or involving or characteristic of critics or criticism
Example:
critical acclaim
Classified under:
Relational adjectives (pertainyms)
Pertainym:
criticism (a serious examination and judgment of something)
Derivation:
critic (someone who frequently finds fault or makes harsh and unfair judgments)
critic (anyone who expresses a reasoned judgment of something)
critic (a person who is professionally engaged in the analysis and interpretation of works of art)
criticism (a written evaluation of a work of literature)
Context examples:
Adherens junctions (AJs; also called the zonula adherens) are critical for the establishment and maintenance of epithelial layers, such as those lining organ surfaces.
(Beta Catenin, NCI Thesaurus/from OMIM)
An explanatory or critical comment, or other in-context information (e.g., pattern, motif, link), that has been associated with data or other types of information.
(Annotation, NCI Thesaurus)
This protein binds to the SH3 domain of the signal-transducing adaptor molecule, and plays a critical role in cytokine-mediated signaling for MYC induction and cell cycle progression.
(AMSH Protein, NCI Thesaurus/LocusLink)
The results of this study support a growing body of evidence suggesting that NMDA receptors play in critical role in how neurons relay information.
(Eye cells may use math to detect motion, NIH)
In a study of fruit flies, National Institutes of Health scientists suggested that the body’s immune system may play a critical role in the damage caused by aging brain disorders.
(New study implicates hyperactive immune system in aging brain disorders, National Institutes of Health)
This atlas is a critical resource for the scientific community interested in how individual genomic variation leads to biological differences, like healthy and diseased states, across human tissues and cell types.
(NIH completes atlas of human DNA differences that influence gene expression, National Institutes of Health)
That was the critical point, when we found that bile acids can control the expression of CXCL16.
(Study finds gut microbiome can control antitumor immune function in liver, National Institutes of Health)
This study presents evidence that there is a sixth factor, inflammation; and that it is critical to both the development and the progression of atherosclerosis to heart attack.
(Study links psoriasis treatment and improvement in heart artery disease, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)
An indication or description of an adverse event associated with a critical medical event.
(Adverse Event Associated with Serious Medical Event, NCI Thesaurus)
Ampicillin trihydrate inhibits bacterial cell wall synthesis by binding to penicillin binding proteins, thereby inhibiting peptidoglycan synthesis, a critical component of the bacterial cell wall.
(Ampicillin Trihydrate, NCI Thesaurus)
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