CRITICAL

adj. 1 carping, fault-finding, censorious, disparaging, depreciatory or depreciative, depreciating, deprecatory or deprecative, deprecating, judgemental The article was highly critical of the council 2 crucial, important, essential, basic, key, decisive, pivotal, vital, momentous The meeting at the bank will be critical for us 3 grave, serious, dangerous, uncertain, perilous, severe, touch-and-go, ticklish, sensitive, touchy, Colloq parlous His illness has reached the critical stage