CRITICAL • E-FREE TRANSLATION.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

... was disposed to regard her sister with more critical eyes. She felt no annoyance at the patronizing tone toward herself, but the reference to Wilbur made her blood rebel. Still she could not bear to harbor distrust against that grave face with its delicate beauty and spiritualized air, which ...

— Unleavened Bread • Robert Grant

... or exchanging recipes with the German Hausfrau, visiting impartially the nearest kindergarten and market, making an atmosphere of her own, hearty and genuine as far as it went, in the house and on the street. On the other hand, her daughter was critical and uncertain of her linguistic acquirements, and only at ease when in the familiar receptive attitude afforded by the art gallery and opera house. In the latter she was swayed and moved, appreciative of the power and charm of the music, intelligent as to ...

— Twenty Years At Hull House • Jane Addams

... Warton's could not have been excelled even by the nice and critical pen of the late Sir U. Price; and when he informs us, in more than one instance, of the great Earl of Chatham's "turning his mind to the ...

— On the Portraits of English Authors on Gardening, • Samuel Felton

... been much felt by Mrs. Stanley, Mr. Wyllys, and Ellsworth. Hazlehurst himself really appeared better prepared for the misfortune than any of the party; in fact he conceived Mrs. Stanley's position to be more painful than his own, though so much less critical in a pecuniary view. Mrs. Creighton was certainly neither so gay, nor so easy as usual in her manner; one might have fancied that she felt herself in an unpleasant and rather an awkward position—a very unusual thing for that lady. It might have struck an observer ...

— Elinor Wyllys - Vol. I • Susan Fenimore Cooper

... she so controlled her mind that she did not whisper this Mormon's name to her own soul, she did not even think it. Besides, beyond this thing she regarded as a sacred obligation thrust upon her, was the need of a helper, of a friend, of a champion in this critical time. If she could rule this gun-man, as Venters had called him, if she could even keep him from shedding blood, what strategy to play his flame and his presence against the game of oppression her churchmen were waging against her? Never would she ...

— Riders of the Purple Sage • Zane Grey

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