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- pronunciation:
- krI
tih
k
 l
- features:
- Word Combinations (adjective), Word Parts
| part of speech: |
adjective |
| definition 1: |
tending to make severe judgments or to find fault.
Her mother-in-law was so critical that it seemed impossible please her.Many citizens became critical of the government and demanded reforms.- synonyms:
- censorious, faultfinding, harsh, hypercritical, severe, strict
- antonyms:
- complimentary, uncritical
- similar words:
- demanding, fastidious, meticulous, negative, niggling, picky, rigid, rigorous, stringent, unfavorable
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| definition 2: |
expressing a negative judgement.
The review had some good things to say about the restaurant, but most of its comments were critical.Her professor's critical remarks about her paper came as a disappointing surprise to her.- antonyms:
- complimentary, laudatory
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| definition 3: |
characterized by or involving careful and exact analysis and evaluation.
Scientific research requires critical thinking.- synonyms:
- analytic, discriminating, evaluative, investigative
- similar words:
- discerning, exact, meticulous, painstaking, scrupulous, serious, systematic
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| definition 4: |
of the nature of a crisis; being at the very highest point of danger but still allowing the possibility of a positive outcome.
She's in the hospital and her condition is considered critical.- synonyms:
- dangerous, grave, touch-and-go
- antonyms:
- mild
- similar words:
- acute, desperate, dire, hazardous, perilous, risky, serious, uncertain, vital
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| definition 5: |
extremely important.
It is critical that you understand these instructions; making a mistake could have dangerous consequences.The testimony of this witness is critical to the case for the defense.- synonyms:
- crucial, essential, grave, pivotal, vital
- antonyms:
- unimportant
- similar words:
- fatal, fundamental, imperative, important, indispensable, momentous, necessary, significant
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| definition 6: |
in physics, of a state just preceding a nuclear reaction.
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| related words: |
analytic, biting, captious, essential, explosive, hopeless, incisive, instant, key, main, nasty, pressing, querulous, sharp, urgent |
adverb + (adj.)critical
absolutely, harshly, highly, openly, sharply
(adj.)critical
+ noun
acclaim,
analysis,
appraisal,
aspect,
assessment,
awareness,
commentary,
component,
condition,
consciousness,
criteria,
density,
dimension,
discourse,
disposition,
element,
engagement,
essay,
evaluation,
examination,
factor,
feedback,
habitat,
importance,
incident,
infrastructure,
inquiry,
insight,
issue,
judgment,
juncture,
lens,
link,
literacy,
lure,
mass,
matrix,
media,
parameter,
pedagogy,
perspective,
praise,
reasoning,
reflection,
review,
role,
scrutiny,
shortage,
skill,
solving,
stance,
success,
survival,
theorist,
theory,
thinker,
thinking,
threshold,
turning,
viewing,
violation,
writing
[See all][See only the most frequent]
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| derivation: |
critically (adv.) |
The word critical
contains the following part:
-al2, -ial, -ual
Latin
adjective-forming suffix
that means pertaining to
  More about this word part:
The suffix -al2, -ial
attaches primarily to nouns ( national
, environmental
) but sometimes to Latin or Greek roots ( final
, capital
, comical
) to form adjectives. See also -ar1.
Example words:
abnormal, accidental, additional, aerial, agricultural, ancestral, annual, arboreal, artificial, astral, bacterial, biblical, biographical, brutal, capital, central, ceremonial, chemical, classical, clinical, coastal, colonial, comical, commercial, confidential, constitutional, continental, continual, controversial, conventional, criminal, critical, crucial, cultural, cylindrical, dental, detrimental, developmental, economical, editorial, educational, electrical, emotional, environmental, essential, equal, exceptional, experimental, facial, factual, federal, final, financial, floral, fluvial, formal, functional, fundamental, general, global, grammatical, guttural, habitual, historical, hysterical, illogical, immoral, impersonal, impractical, individual, industrial, ineffectual, influential, internal, legal, local, logical, lyrical, magical, maniacal, mathematical, memorial, mental, moral, mortal, musical, mythical, national, natural, nautical, neutral, normal, official, parental, pastoral, personal, philosophical, plural, pluralism, pluralistic, political, potential, quizzical, racial, rational, regional, irrational, intellectual, rhythmical, sacrificial, seasonal, spinal, spiritual, technological, territorial, theatrical, thermal, tidal, traditional, tribal, typical, universal, unnatural, veridical, verbal, virtual, vocal, visual
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