Critical
['krɪtɪk(ə)l] or ['krɪtɪkl]
Definition
(adj.) marked by a tendency to find and call attention to errors and flaws; 'a critical attitude' .
(adj.) characterized by careful evaluation and judgment; 'a critical reading'; 'a critical dissertation'; 'a critical analysis of Melville's writings' .
(adj.) being in or verging on a state of crisis or emergency; 'a critical shortage of food'; 'a critical illness'; 'an illness at the critical stage' .
(adj.) at or of a point at which a property or phenomenon suffers an abrupt change especially having enough mass to sustain a chain reaction; 'a critical temperature of water is 100 degrees C--its boiling point at standard atmospheric pressure'; 'critical mass'; 'go critical' .
(adj.) forming or having the nature of a turning point or crisis; 'a critical point in the campaign'; 'the critical test' .
(adj.) urgently needed; absolutely necessary; 'a critical element of the plan'; 'critical medical supplies'; 'vital for a healthy society'; 'of vital interest' .
(adj.) of or involving or characteristic of critics or criticism; 'critical acclaim' .
Typist: Norton--From WordNet
Definition
(n.) Qualified to criticise, or pass judgment upon, literary or artistic productions.
(n.) Pertaining to criticism or the critic's art; of the nature of a criticism; accurate; as, critical knowledge; a critical dissertation.
(n.) Inclined to make nice distinctions, or to exercise careful judgment and selection; exact; nicely judicious.
(n.) Inclined to criticise or find fault; fastidious; captious; censorious; exacting.
(n.) Characterized by thoroughness and a reference to principles, as becomes a critic; as, a critical analysis of a subject.
(n.) Pertaining to, or indicating, a crisis, turning point, or specially important juncture; important as regards consequences; hence, of doubtful issue; attended with risk; dangerous; as, the critical stage of a fever; a critical situation.
Inputed by Ferdinand
Synonyms and Synonymous
a. [1]. Exact, nice, accurate.[2]. Censorious, carping, cavilling, captious.
Checked by Beth
Synonyms and Antonyms
SYN:Nice, delicate, exact, fastidious, discriminating, censorious, accurate,dubious, precarious, ticklish, crucial, important, momentous, hazardous
ANT:Inexact, popular, loose, easy, undiscriminating, safe, determined, decided,settled, retrieved, redressed
Edited by Alison
Examples
- I say this here for two reasons--because I hope to avoid the critical attack of the genuine Marxian specialist, and because the observation is, I believe, relevant to our subject. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
- By a most fortunate chance his leaving Highbury had been delayed so as to bring him to her assistance at this critical moment. Jane Austen. Emma.
- The first volume, as well as a portion of the second, was written before I had reason to suppose I was in a critical condition of health. Ulysses S. Grant. Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant.
- It was the critical moment of Oliver's fate. Charles Dickens. Oliver Twist.
- There is no pretension whatever to any critical study of Das Kapital itself. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
- Fairway had meanwhile concluded a critical gaze at Yeobright. Thomas Hardy. The Return of the Native.
- In a less critical situation the effort need not have been given up as hopeless even yet. Wilkie Collins. The Woman in White.
- One temple is said to have been so constructed as to face that part of the eastern horizon at which this star arose at the critical season of inundation. Walter Libby. An Introduction to the History of Science.
- The man's voracious vanity devoured this implied tribute to his local and critical supremacy with an appearance of the highest relish. Wilkie Collins. The Woman in White.
- She had an amazing instinctive critical faculty, and was a pure anarchist, a pure aristocrat at once. D. H. Lawrence. Women in Love .
- Had Rachel reverted to this unlucky accident, at the critical moment when my place in her estimation was again, and far more seriously, assailed? Wilkie Collins. The Moonstone.
- Through its critical process true knowledge is revised and extended, and our convictions as to the state of things reorganized. John Dewey. Democracy and Education.
- Especially when the critical stage was passed, and he began to feel confident of Fred's recovery. George Eliot. Middlemarch.
- The American college student has the gravity and mental habits of a Supreme Court judge; his wild oats are rarely spiritual; the critical, analytical habit of mind is distrusted. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
- RABBIT Gudrun knew that it was a critical thing for her to go to Shortlands. D. H. Lawrence. Women in Love .
- By great good fortune Twemlow receives a stimulant at this critical instant. Charles Dickens. Our Mutual Friend.
- But with regard to critical occasions, it often happens that all moments seem comfortably remote until the laSt. This looks well, eh? George Eliot. Middlemarch.
- I would not trust him in a critical case, said Marie; and I think I may say mine is becoming so! Harriet Beecher Stowe. Uncle Tom's Cabin.
- It is not moral in the sense that a person is moved by direct personal appeal from others, important as is this method at critical junctures. John Dewey. Democracy and Education.
- He represented himself as the loyal friend of Persia, and Darius was not disposed to be too critical. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- Frazer still await a thorough critical examination, and to his works the reader must go for the indefatigable expansion of this idea. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- Hence a further need for a critical outlook and survey. John Dewey. Democracy and Education.
- Miss Bart's immediate answer was to address a critical glance to the reflection of the countenance under discussion. Edith Wharton. The House of Mirth.
- Under all conditions the light is properly screened and diffused to suit the critical eye of the camera man. Frank Lewis Dyer. Edison, His Life and Inventions.
- But other forces were more frankly disobedient and critical. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- The democratic culture must, with critical persistence, make man the measure of all things. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
- Liquid air is simply air which has been compressed and cooled to what is called its critical temperature and pressure, _i. Edward W. Byrn. The Progress of Invention in the Nineteenth Century.
- No bracing critical atmosphere plays about his mind: there are no cleansing doubts and fruitful alternatives. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
- There is no evidence, however, that Americans as individuals are wanting in the self-critical spirit. Walter Libby. An Introduction to the History of Science.
- This deficiency was likely to prove perilous in an emergency so critical. Walter Scott. Ivanhoe.
Edited by Alison