CRITICAL

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does critical mean? 

• CRITICAL (adjective)
  The adjective CRITICAL has 7 senses:

1. marked by a tendency to find and call attention to errors and flaws

2. at or of a point at which a property or phenomenon suffers an abrupt change especially having enough mass to sustain a chain reaction

3. characterized by careful evaluation and judgment

4. urgently needed; absolutely necessary

5. forming or having the nature of a turning point or crisis

6. being in or verging on a state of crisis or emergency

7. of or involving or characteristic of critics or criticism

  Familiarity information: CRITICAL used as an adjective is common.

 Dictionary entry details 

• CRITICAL (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Marked by a tendency to find and call attention to errors and flaws

Context example:

a critical attitude

Similar:

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)

captious; faultfinding (tending to find and call attention to faults)

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:

criticism (disapproval expressed by pointing out faults or shortcomings)

critic (someone who frequently finds fault or makes harsh and unfair judgments)

Sense 2

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

Context example:

go critical

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 3

Meaning:

Characterized by careful evaluation and judgment

Context example:

a critical analysis of Melville's writings

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 4

Meaning:

Urgently needed; absolutely necessary

Synonyms:

critical; vital

Context example:

of vital interest

Similar:

indispensable (not to be dispensed with; essential)

Derivation:

criticality; criticalness (a state of critical urgency)

Sense 5

Meaning:

Forming or having the nature of a turning point or crisis

Synonyms:

critical; decisive

Context example:

the critical test

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:

Being in or verging on a state of crisis or emergency

Context example:

an illness at the critical stage

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 7

Meaning:

Of or involving or characteristic of critics or criticism

Classified under:

Relational adjectives (pertainyms)

Context example:

critical acclaim

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 

This allele, which encodes serine-protein kinase ATM protein, plays a critical role in cell cycle checkpoint signaling pathways required for cellular response to DNA damage and maintenance of genomic stability.

(ATM wt Allele, NCI Thesaurus)

Azlocillin binds to penicillin-binding proteins (PBPs) located inside the bacterial cell wall, thereby inhibiting the cross-linking of peptidoglycans, which are critical components of the bacterial cell wall.

(Azlocillin, NCI Thesaurus)

Asparagine is critical to protein synthesis in leukemic cells, which cannot synthesize this amino acid due to the absence of the enzyme asparagine synthase.

(asparaginase Erwinia chrysanthemi, NCI Thesaurus)

Asparagine is critical to protein synthesis in leukemic cells; some leukemic cells cannot synthesize this amino acid de novo due to the absent or deficient expression of the enzyme asparagine synthase.

(Asparaginase, NCI Thesaurus)

VEGFR-3 plays a critical role in the embryonic vascular system development but is restricted postnatally to endothelial cells of lymphatic vessels and found to be expressed in many solid and hematologic malignancies.

(Anti-VEGFR3 Monoclonal Antibody IMC-3C5, NCI Thesaurus)

Azlocillin binds to penicillin-binding proteins (PBPs) located inside the bacterial cell wall, thereby inhibiting the cross-linkage of peptidoglycans, which are critical components of the bacterial cell wall.

(Azlocillin Sodium, NCI Thesaurus)

Raf kinases are critical enzymes in the Ras/Raf/MEK/ERK signaling pathway and are frequently upregulated in neoplasms.

(B-Raf/VEGFR-2 Inhibitor RAF265, NCI Thesaurus)

As key enzyme in the de novo synthesis of dTMP, TS is an enzyme critical to DNA biosynthesis and is overexpressed in many solid tumors.

(Brivudine Phosphoramidate, NCI Thesaurus)

This allele, which encodes fanconi anemia group J protein, is involved in the repair of double-strand DNA breaks and is critical for genomic integrity.

(BRIP1 wt Allele, NCI Thesaurus)

This gene is involved in receptor mediated ligand-induced signal transduction that is critical for endochondral bone formation and embryogenesis.

(BMPR2 Gene, NCI Thesaurus)