ˈkrid.ə̇kəl, -itə̇k-, -ēk- adjective
Etymology: critic (I) + -al
1.
a. : inclined to criticize severely and unfavorably : given to noticing faults and imperfections
cooler and more critical in temper; hard to please — Willa Cather
b. : consisting of, marked by, being, or involving criticism
the critical writings of Swinburne
a critical biography
his critical insight
also : of or in the judgment of critics
the book won wide critical praise
the play was a critical success
c. : exercising or involving careful judgment or judicious evaluation : discriminating , careful , exact
a critical weighing of all the factors leaves no doubt that the countryman labors under real disadvantages
a cautious critical mind
d. : including variant readings and scholarly emendations
a critical edition
— compare variorum
2. : of, relating to, or being a turning point or specially important juncture:
a. : indicating or being the stage of a disease at which an abrupt change for better or worse may be anticipated with reasonable certainty
the critical phase of a fever
b. : relating to, indicating, or being a state in which or a measurement or point at which some quality, property, or phenomenon suffers a finite change or undergoes drastic alteration
the parabola is a critical curve through which a conic section passes from an ellipse into a hyperbola
c. : crucial , decisive
a critical analogy between sound and light
this will be the critical test in the series
d. : indispensable for the weathering, the solution, or the overcoming of a crisis ; specifically : essential for the conduct of war but available only in short supply
critical materials
e. : in or approaching a crisis especially through economic disorders or by virtue of a disaster
a critical area
3.
a. : of doubtful issue : attended by risk or uncertainty
our situation became critical with the early freeze
b. of kinds of organisms
(1) : so nearly related as to be distinguished with difficulty
two critical species
(2) : rare and diminishing in numbers
a critical element in the local flora
4. : of sufficient size to sustain or to be capable of sustaining a chain reaction — used of a mass of fissionable material
Synonyms:
hypercritical , censorious , faultfinding , carping , captious , caviling : critical may describe a disposition to find and to stress faults
the attitude of Euripides … is so … frankly critical that a recent writer has even gone so far as to maintain that his main object … was to discredit the myths — G.L.Dickinson
Unlike the other words in this list, critical may describe fair, judicious evaluation
the exemplars of … the critical spirit, discriminators between the false and the true — P.E.More
The other words in the list are all close in suggestion and are often interchangeable. hypercritical and censorious indicate a tendency to discover and stress errors and imperfections
exceedingly difficult to please, not … because he was hypercritical and exacting, but because he was indifferent — Arnold Bennett
“do you mean that you heard a fellow doubt my wife …?” “The world's very censorious, old boy” — W.M.Thackeray
faultfinding , sometimes implying lack of background and discrimination, describes a temperament that is exacting and almost impossible to satisfy. carping and captious may imply perverse ill-natured faultfinding
these criticisms of a book that is a labor of love may seem ungracious or even carping — M.R.Cohen
after reading a work of such amplitude it seems captious to protest that the motivating forces … are inadequately analyzed — Geoffrey Bruun
caviling suggests frequent petty objections
those caviling critics who snipe from the musty back rooms of libraries — Charles Ramsdell
Synonym: see in addition acute .