transcription, транскрипция: [ ˈkri-ti-kəl ]
adjective
Date: 1547
1.
a. : of, relating to, or being a turning point or specially important juncture
a critical phase
as
(1) : relating to or being the stage of a disease at which an abrupt change for better or worse may be expected ; also : being or relating to an illness or condition involving danger of death
critical care
a patient listed in critical condition
(2) : relating to or being a state in which or a measurement or point at which some quality, property, or phenomenon suffers a definite change
critical temperature
b. : crucial , decisive
a critical test
c. : indispensable , vital
a critical waterfowl habitat
a component critical to the operation of a machine
d. : being in or approaching a state of crisis
a critical shortage
a critical situation
2.
a. : inclined to criticize severely and unfavorably
b. : consisting of or involving criticism
critical writings
also : of or relating to the judgment of critics
the play was a critical success
c. : exercising or involving careful judgment or judicious evaluation
critical thinking
d. : including variant readings and scholarly emendations
a critical edition
3.
a. : of sufficient size to sustain a chain reaction — used of a mass of fissionable material
a critical mass
b. : sustaining a nuclear chain reaction
the reactor went critical
• crit·i·cal·i·ty ˌkri-tə-ˈka-lə-tē noun
• crit·i·cal·ly ˈkri-ti-k(ə-)lē adverb
• crit·i·cal·ness -kəl-nəs noun
Synonyms:
critical , hypercritical , faultfinding , captious , carping , censorious mean inclined to look for and point out faults and defects. critical may also imply an effort to see a thing clearly and truly in order to judge it fairly
a critical essay
hypercritical suggests a tendency to judge by unreasonably strict standards
hypercritical disparagement of other people's work
faultfinding implies a querulous or exacting temperament
a faultfinding reviewer
captious suggests a readiness to detect trivial faults or raise objections on trivial grounds
a captious critic
carping implies an ill-natured or perverse picking of flaws
a carping editorial
censorious implies a disposition to be severely critical and condemnatory
the censorious tone of the review
Synonym: see in addition acute .