CRITICAL

1. [a] marked by a tendency to find and call attention to errors and flaws; "a critical attitude"

2. [a] characterized by careful evaluation and judgment; "a critical reading"; "a critical dissertation"; "a critical analysis of Melville''s writings"

3. [a] 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"

4. [a] 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";

5. [s] forming or having the nature of a turning point or crisis; "a critical point in the campaign"; "the critical test"

6. [s] urgently needed; absolutely necessary; "a critical element of the plan"; "critical medical supplies"; "vital for a healthy society"; "of vital interest"

7. [a] of or involving or characteristic of critics or criticism; "critical acclaim"

similar words

1. [s] captious

2. [s] faultfinding

3. [s] caviling

4. [s] carping

5. [s] nitpicking

6. [s] pettifogging

7. [s] quibbling

8. [s] censorious

9. [s] deprecative

10. [s] hypercritical

11. [s] overcritical

12. [s] scathing

13. [s] blistering

14. [s] scalding

15. [s] vituperative

16. [s] appraising(a)

17. [s] evaluative

18. [s] discriminative

19. [s] judicial

20. [s] acute

21. [s] dangerous

22. [s] grave

23. [s] grievous

24. [s] serious

25. [s] severe

26. [s] life-threatening

27. [s] desperate

28. [s] dire

29. [s] supercritical

30. [a] crucial

31. [a] important

32. [a] indispensable

opposite words

1. [a] uncritical

2. [a] uncritical

3. [a] noncritical

4. [a] noncritical

5. [a] noncrucial

6. [a] noncritical