| critical | | |
| adj. | 1. critical | marked by a tendency to find and call attention to errors and flaws.; "a critical attitude" |
| ~ captious, faultfinding | tending to find and call attention to faults.; "a captious pedant"; "an excessively demanding and faultfinding tutor" |
| ~ censorious | harshly critical or expressing censure.; "was censorious of petty failings" |
| ~ deprecative | given to expressing disapproval. |
| ~ hypercritical, overcritical | inclined to judge too severely.; "hypercritical of colloquial speech"; "the overcritical teacher can discourage originality" |
| ~ searing | severely critical. |
| ~ scathing, vituperative | marked by harshly abusive criticism.; "his scathing remarks about silly lady novelists"; "her vituperative railing" |
| ~ unfavorable, unfavourable | not encouraging or approving or pleasing.; "unfavorable conditions"; "an unfavorable comparison"; "unfavorable comments"; "unfavorable impression" |
| ~ sarcastic | expressing or expressive of ridicule that wounds. |
| adj. | 2. critical | 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" |
| ~ chemical science, chemistry | the science of matter; the branch of the natural sciences dealing with the composition of substances and their properties and reactions. |
| ~ natural philosophy, physics | the science of matter and energy and their interactions.; "his favorite subject was physics" |
| ~ supercritical | (especially of fissionable material) able to sustain a chain reaction in such a manner that the rate of reaction increases. |
| adj. | 3. critical | characterized by careful evaluation and judgment.; "a critical reading"; "a critical dissertation"; "a critical analysis of Melville's writings" |
| ~ appraising, evaluative | exercising or involving careful evaluations.; "looked him over with an appraising eye"; "the literary judge uses many evaluative terms" |
| ~ discriminative, judicial | expressing careful judgment.; "discriminative censure"; "a biography ...appreciative and yet judicial in purpose" |
| ~ discerning | having or revealing keen insight and good judgment.; "a discerning critic"; "a discerning reader" |
| ~ scholarly | characteristic of scholars or scholarship.; "scholarly pursuits"; "a scholarly treatise"; "a scholarly attitude" |
| adj. | 4. critical, vital | urgently needed; absolutely necessary.; "a critical element of the plan"; "critical medical supplies"; "vital for a healthy society"; "of vital interest" |
| ~ indispensable | not to be dispensed with; essential.; "foods indispensable to good nutrition" |
| adj. | 5. critical, decisive | forming or having the nature of a turning point or crisis.; "a critical point in the campaign"; "the critical test" |
| ~ crucial, important | of extreme importance; vital to the resolution of a crisis.; "a crucial moment in his career"; "a crucial election"; "a crucial issue for women" |
| adj. | 6. critical | 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" |
| ~ acute | of critical importance and consequence.; "an acute (or critical) lack of research funds" |
| ~ grievous, life-threatening, dangerous, grave, serious, severe | causing fear or anxiety by threatening great harm.; "a dangerous operation"; "a grave situation"; "a grave illness"; "grievous bodily harm"; "a serious wound"; "a serious turn of events"; "a severe case of pneumonia"; "a life-threatening disease" |
| ~ dire, desperate | fraught with extreme danger; nearly hopeless.; "a desperate illness"; "on all fronts the Allies were in a desperate situation due to lack of materiel"; "a dire emergency" |
| ~ crucial, important | of extreme importance; vital to the resolution of a crisis.; "a crucial moment in his career"; "a crucial election"; "a crucial issue for women" |
| adj. (pertain) | 7. critical | of or involving or characteristic of critics or criticism.; "critical acclaim" |
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