CRITICAL • FREE-TRANSLATOR.COM • Definition of Critical

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/krˈɪtɪkəl/ Listen

adjective

Critical adj.

1.

Qualified to criticise, or pass judgment upon, literary or artistic productions. "It is submitted to the judgment of more critical ears to direct and determine what is graceful and what is not."

2.

Pertaining to criticism or the critic's art; of the nature of a criticism; accurate; as, critical knowledge; a critical dissertation.

3.

Inclined to make nice distinctions, or to exercise careful judgment and selection; exact; nicely judicious. "Virgil was so critical in the rites of religion, that he would never have brought in such prayers as these, if they had not been agreeable to the Roman customs."

4.

Inclined to criticise or find fault; fastidious; captious; censorious; exacting. "O gentle lady, do not put me to 't, For I am nothing, if not critical."

5.

Characterized by thoroughness and a reference to principles, as becomes a critic; as, a critical analysis of a subject.

6.

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. "Our circumstances are indeed critical." "The small moment, the exact point, the critical minute, on which every good work so much depends."

Critical angle (Optics), that angle of incidence of a luminous ray at which it is wholly reflected, and no portion of it transmitted. The sine of this angle is the reciprocal of the refractive index of the medium.

Critical philosophy, the metaphysical system of Kant; so called from his most important work, the "Critique of Pure Reason."

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Etymology of 'Critical'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Critical" Quotes from Famous Books

... critical point with regard to the present position of women in America is the question of work and wages. Here the pocket of man is touched. And the pocket is the most sensitive point with many men, not only in America, but all the world over. There can be no doubt ...

— Female Suffrage • Susan Fenimore Cooper

... troubled hours when it is most needed. We owe more to our illusions than to our knowledge. The imagination, which is altogether constructive, probably contributes more to our happiness than the reason, which in the sphere of speculation is mainly critical and destructive. The rude charm which, in the hour of danger or distress, the savage clasps so confidently to his breast, the sacred picture which is believed to shed a hallowing and protecting influence over the ...

— Glimpses of an Unfamiliar Japan - First Series • Lafcadio Hearn

... cut rates and the Guilford bad management. In consequence, any advance in the market value of the stock must be slow and uncertain under the skilfullest handling. But, while it might be advisable for Mrs. Brentwood to take what she could get, the transfer of the three thousand shares at the critical moment might be the death blow to all his hopes ...

— The Grafters • Francis Lynde

... exception of the bones of the hands and feet. The skull being wanting, it could not be determined whether the remains were those of an Indian or of a white man, but in either case the sepulture was peculiarly aboriginal. A careful exhumation and critical examination by Mr. Klingbeil disclosed the fact that around the lower extremities of the body had been placed a number of large stones, which revealed traces of fire, in conjunction with charred wood, and the bones of the feet had undoubtedly been consumed. This fact makes ...

— An introduction to the mortuary customs of the North American Indians • H. C. Yarrow

... younger than the Russian they had followed so far, but there could be no mistaking that sharp chin and frowning brow. They had doubtless followed that very man for hundreds of miles only to lose him at this critical moment. ...

— Triple Spies • Roy J. Snell

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