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Criticalness - 4 dictionary results

crit⋅i⋅cal

   [krit-i-kuhl]
–adjective
1. inclined to find fault or to judge with severity, often too readily.
2. occupied with or skilled in criticism.
3. involving skillful judgment as to truth, merit, etc.; judicial: a critical analysis.
4. of or pertaining to critics or criticism: critical essays.
5. providing textual variants, proposed emendations, etc.: a critical edition of Chaucer.
6. pertaining to or of the nature of a crisis: a critical shortage of food.
7. of decisive importance with respect to the outcome; crucial: a critical moment.
8. of essential importance; indispensable: a critical ingredient.
9. Medicine/Medical. (of a patient's condition) having unstable and abnormal vital signs and other unfavorable indicators, as loss of appetite, poor mobility, or unconsciousness.
10. Physics.
a. pertaining to a state, value, or quantity at which one or more properties of a substance or system undergo a change.
b. (of fissionable material) having enough mass to sustain a chain reaction.
Origin:
1580–90; critic + -al 1
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
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crit·i·cal     (krĭt'ĭ-kəl)  Pronunciation Key 
adj.  
  1. Inclined to judge severely and find fault.
  2. Characterized by careful, exact evaluation and judgment: a critical reading.
  3. Of, relating to, or characteristic of critics or criticism: critical acclaim; a critical analysis of Melville's writings.
  4. Forming or having the nature of a turning point; crucial or decisive: a critical point in the campaign.
    1. Of or relating to a medical crisis: an illness at the critical stage.
    2. Being or relating to a grave physical condition especially of a patient.
  6. Indispensable; essential: a critical element of the plan; a second income that is critical to the family's well-being.
  7. Being in or verging on a state of crisis or emergency: a critical shortage of food.
  8. Fraught with danger or risk; perilous.
  9. Mathematics Of or relating to a point at which a curve has a horizontal tangent line, as at a maximum or minimum.
  10. Chemistry & Physics Of or relating to the value of a measurement, such as temperature, at which an abrupt change in a quality, property, or state occurs: A critical temperature of water is 100°C, its boiling point at standard atmospheric pressure.
  11. Physics Capable of sustaining a nuclear chain reaction.
crit'i·cal·ly adv., crit'i·cal·ness n.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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criticalness

noun
a state of critical urgency [syn: criticality] 

WordNet® 3.0, © 2006 by Princeton University.
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Criticalness

Crit"ic*al*ness\, n. 1. The state or quality of being critical, or of occurring at a critical time.

2. Accuracy in examination or decision; exactness.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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