How do you pronounce critical?

The recorded pronunciation is /ˈkɹɪt.ɪ.kəl/.

critical

/ˈkɹɪt.ɪ.kəl/

Word Rarity Uncommon

Frequency: 4.83 in modern English

Syllables: crit-i-cal
IPA: /ˈkɹɪt.ɪ.kəl/

Scrabble Score

Letters

Syllables

Unique Chars

Meaning

adj

Inclined to find fault or criticize.

adj

Pertaining to, or indicating, a crisis or turning point.

adj

Extremely important.

adj

Relating to criticism or careful analysis, such as literary or film criticism.

adj

Relating to criticism or careful analysis, such as literary or film criticism.

adj

Of a patient condition involving unstable vital signs and a prognosis that predicts the condition could worsen; or, a patient condition that requires urgent treatment in an intensive care or critical care medical facility.

adj

In such a condition.

adj

Likely to go out of control if disturbed, that is, opposite of stable.

Example Sentences

"A good teacher is fair but critical."
"Let us go back to the beginning and consider what the charge is that has made people so critical of me, and has encouraged Meletus to draw up this indictment."
"This is a critical moment."
"Such a scandal as the prosecution of a brother for forgery—with a verdict of guilty—is a most truly horrible, deplorable, fatal thing. It takes the respectability out of a family perhaps at a critical moment, when the family is just assuming the robes of respectability: […] it is a black spot which all the soaps ever advertised could never wash off."
"It's critical that you deliver this on time."
"Oxygen levels on Earth skyrocketed 2.4 billion years ago, when cyanobacteria evolved photosynthesis:[…]. The evolutionary precursor of photosynthesis is still under debate, and a new study sheds light. The critical component of the photosynthetic system is the “water-oxidizing complex”, made up of manganese atoms and a calcium atom."

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *krey- Proto-Indo-European *-n- Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *krinyéti Proto-Hellenic *kríňňō Ancient Greek κρῑ́νω (krī́nō) Ancient Greek κρῐ- (krĭ-) Proto-Hellenic *-tās Ancient Greek -τής (-tḗs) Ancient Greek κρῐτής (krĭtḗs) Proto-Indo-European *-kos Proto-Hellenic *-kos Ancient Greek -κός (-kós) Ancient Greek -ῐκός (-ĭkós) Ancient Greek κριτικός (kritikós)bor. Latin criticus Proto-Indo-European *h₂el- Proto-Indo-European *-is Proto-Indo-European *h₂élisder.? Proto-Italic *-ālis Latin -ālisbor. Old French -albor. ▲ Latin -ālis Old French -elbor. ▲ Latin -ālisbor. Middle English -al English -al English critical From Latin criticus + English -al.

Regional Pronunciation

American English: /ˈkɹɪt.ɪ.kəl/
British English: /ˈkɹɪt.ɪ.kəl/

Inflected Forms

more critical (comparative) most critical (superlative) criticals (plural)

Derived Forms

acritical antecritical anticritical autocritical bicritical biocritical cricondentherm crifanac criticality critically criticalness ecocritical

Phrases

accelerated critical illness business-critical critical altitude critical angle critical apparatus critical applied linguistics critical brain hypothesis critical care

Frequently Paired Words

critic criticism fair serious stable

Synonyms

fastidious captious censorious exacting judgmental slashing crucial imperative crit

Rhymes With

non-political analytical hypocritical geopolitical apolitical uncritical nonpolitical hypercritical