critical Definition

critical
adj

1. Fault-finding; disapproving.

Thesaurus: fault-finding, cynical, disparaging, censorious, carping, caviling, sharp, captious, choleric, trenchant; Antonym: flattering, encouraging.
2. Relating to a critic or criticism.

Thesaurus: discerning, perceptive, observant, penetrating, judicious, perspicacious.
3. Involving analysis and assessment.
4. Relating to a crisis; decisive; crucial.

Thesaurus: important, decisive, significant, crucial, deciding, climactic.
5. Urgent; vital.
6. Said of a patient: so ill or seriously injured as to be at risk of dying.
7. physics.
Denoting a state, level or value at which there is a significant change in the properties of a system.
Example: critical mass
Example: critical temperature
8. nuclear physics.
Said of a fissionable material, a nuclear reactor, etc: having reached the point at which a nuclear chain reaction is self-sustaining.

Derivative: critically
adverb

Derivative: criticality
noun

Derivative: criticalness
noun