CRUX (cruces)

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

Irregular inflected form: cruces   

 Dictionary entry overview: What does Crux mean? 

• CRUX (noun)
  The noun CRUX has 2 senses:

1. a small conspicuous constellation in the southern hemisphere in the Milky Way near Centaurus

2. the most important point

  Familiarity information: CRUX used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• CRUX (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A small conspicuous constellation in the southern hemisphere in the Milky Way near Centaurus

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural objects (not man-made)

Synonyms:

Crux; Crux Australis; Southern Cross

Instance hypernyms:

constellation (a configuration of stars as seen from the earth)

Meronyms (members of "Crux"):

Alpha Crucis (the brightest star in the Southern Cross)

Beta Crucis (the second brightest star in the Southern Cross)

Holonyms ("Crux" is a member of...):

Milky Way; Milky Way Galaxy; Milky Way System (the galaxy containing the solar system; consists of millions of stars that can be seen as a diffuse band of light stretching across the night sky)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The most important point

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

crux; crux of the matter

Hypernyms ("crux" is a kind of...):

point (a brief version of the essential meaning of something)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "crux"):

alpha and omega (the basic meaning of something; the crucial part)

 Context examples 

But his papers were my great crux.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I shook my head. "That," I said, is the crux.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)